Tales from the Creche - The Inns, Outs of Christmas, 2021: Part 1

What's In, Out: Despite forecasts of the hottest, otherwise referred to as "coolest!" items being bought up, many retailers will be caught by surprise. That is, despite all the algorithms, cookies, and focus groups that started assembling December 26th, 2020 and zoomed to a creche-endo Friday, November 26th, 2021, and on into cyber space the Monday next (while the latest Space X venture went "On into Infinity and Beyond!"), the predictions were all about the objects of greatest affection, which become the objects of greatest projection for retailers. It's this way every year now, with all the advanced analytics trying to outpace us (well, at least our little tikes, the real consumers of the moment), to anticipate our every desire, our every move towards a purchase, the anticipation of our click of the mouse (not heard throughout the house, but sensed by them)...all to get a jump on the competition. Follow and fulfill our every need, which is to keep the little ones satisfied for a bit. We'll soon see what turned out to be the hottest items, as well as those spurned, returned on December 26th....27th...and Beyond! On the other hand...

Outside Inn, Out: What's not around, tracked as much, of course, but which has been touched on here a few times, are those whose quest is not to obtain the hottest item, but just a bit of warmth...those who wish to be part of the analytics but have been left on the sidelines, the underemployed, the homeless, the lonely...those who find themselves on the outside looking in -- a mass of holiday movies, some of which literally include a Christmas Mass, may include a mention, glimpse of them. Otherwise, we to look at them ourselves only in passing, and they themselves find they are not as hot an item the rest of the year either...

I just can't LE-Go! As all of us are aware by now, you don't have to be a great Dane, a person hailing from Denmark, the home of LEGO, to appreciate the impact of these simple interlocking pieces of plastic have made as a brand, the clamor for which can be heard the world over this time of year (and which make a cacophony when your little one is looking for the littlest one and otherwise met with a cacophonous screech when you step on one in the dark). Which were born in the crucible of "necessity, crisis, being the mother of all inventions" the object of great affection by a poor carpenter, who was simply trying to conjure up some simply designed, interlocking pieces, which in turn might lock in the imaginations of little tikes...which in a "swoosh!" (another HUGE brand) went...well, viral (ugh, sorry, but it fits), and has become one of the biggest brands not only in Europe (eclipsing some popular, enduring auto brands) and then the world over. One that has evolved, even seems to anticipate the next big 'thing' of affection...Star Wars, Harry Potter...??? You can now find, beyond the life-sized nativity scenes on some of your neighbors' lawns, behind the window scenes and Christmas trees in most windows, on  some fireplace mantels, as part of the Christmas villages...a LEGO creche! But, try as you might to locate such a kit depicting the Inn featured in the original Christmas journey, the one with "no room", resulting in the humble manger scene, a stable...you may find yourself out in the cold. The best I could locate after an arduous journey on the web was "Starlight Inn, LEGO Elves" (close but not quite the right niche, for a creche), or otherwise a hotel...where you can find lots of room for a 'pretty penny' or two, as in 2,555 to be exact...probably not what the Originator intended...