As Christmas Day marches closer and closer, I can’t help but think back to days of Christmas past and the joy and excitement the many classic Lego sets brought me as a kid. It’s tough to realize its been 39 years since I breathlessly hoped and wished for sets like the Galaxy Explorer (Lego #497) in 1979.

It was a simpler time to say the least. We didn’t have laptops, the internet, much less smart phones and tablets. Just our imaginations. The magical promise of Christmas and toys, toys toys (I fully realize toys have nothing to do with the true meaning of Christmas, which I cherish, but to a 10 year old boy in 1979, Christmas meant toys, toys, toys). I remember combing through a Sears catalog as thick as a phone book picking out items for my list for Santa. These days, we don’t have phone books, Sears catalogs and I’m not even certain we still have Sears.

But in these simpler times, a child’s imagination often soared to the heavens. The majesty of the original Star Wars movie (Episode IV – A New Hope, or as we called it – Star Wars) was still fresh in our minds and boys and girls across the land dreamed of flying through the galaxy, taming evil doers with a barrage of Pew-Pew-Pews and the slash of a light saber.

It must have been a simpler time in Billund too. Long before the thoughts of licensing agreements, movie franchises and even Lego Stores, the Lego Group created magical yet simple sets. Sets whose simplicity served a child’s desire to build but also to dream.

There is something to be said about the simpler sets – and one big reason why Lego has such a large adult following today. While we love the new sets and the incredibly detailed and intricate sets from the Star Wars theme and others, it was a little Red Spaceman that first captured our imagination on a Christmas 39 years ago.