Was there a toy or thing you always wanted as a child, during the holidays or on your birthday, but never received? Tell us about it.

Oh my word, the great Mr Frosty Disappointment of 1984 – present day!

I was a really lucky child. I always had great Christmas and birthday presents. the best one ever was my very own desk – a wooden desk and chair suitable for a child, with inkwell and sloping lid that raised, just like old fashioned desks. The chair seat opened up too, and I was in heaven playing school with it, even though I went to school five days a week anyway!

Once a nerd, always a nerd.

However, no matter how many times I asked for it, there was always one present I never got: a Mr Frosty ice crunchie maker. Looking back now, I completely understand why my mother said no – the mess this thing would have made would be insane! You put ice cubes in the top, turned the handle to crunch them up and poured them into little cups, where you squirted them with flavouring which, no doubt, was packed full of E-numbers.

I yearned for this. I begged for this. It was the top item on my Christmas list every year until my teens, but it was to no avail. I never got a Mr Frosty.

I wasn’t alone in this – a quick survey of my friends reveals that most of them wanted the toy, but none of them got it. Our mothers were too smart to fall for the begging, it seems.

One of my oldest friends felt the sting of this, so one Christmas I scoured eBay for a vintage 1980s Mr Frosty. The look on her face was priceless when she opened it! Of course, she has two daughters and is ruing the day I ever gave it to her now that they demand to make ice crunchies on the living room rug, but that’s not important…