A Santa Full of Soaky!

This image gives me the opportunity to plug, once again, the ever growing collection of Dan Goodsell, aka grickily, who virtually every day delights us with his latest acquisitions of kid-related retro packaging, toys, art and related ephemera. Most recently Dan added a bunch of astonishing Cracker Jack prizes to his Flickr photo-stream, including some tiny story and joke booklets that took me back to those childhood visits to the supermarket with my mom and dad. There were similar booklets of a miniscule size so close and yet so far, on the other side of the glass of several gumball machines by the grocery store doors.

My pennies were dear in those days and though I willingly gambled them in the hopes of procuring one of those diminutive riddle books, Lady Luck was never on my side. Gumballs never tasted so disappointing as those that dropped into my hand after twisting that dial and lifting that silver trap door.

Well now we can all relive our youth through Dan's generousity - go marvel at his pop culture treasures! And make sure to visit Dan's blog, A Sampler of Things where he just posted about those Cracker Jack prizes.