Kickstart: Hop in the Cozy Coupe! We're headed to the Hall of Fame!

The Toy Hall of Fame may have rejected plastic toys this year, but the man who brought us the Cozy Coupe hasn't been forgotten.

The Toy Industry Hall of Fame announced Dec. 20 that Tom Murdough, the man who created Little Tikes, Step2 and now Simplay3 will be inducted in its Hall of Fame in 2020.

When he founded Little Tikes in the 1970s, he developed a summer "off-peak" toy season by launching the "Turtle Sandbox," which remains in production today, the Hall noted.

"Murdough has always been a risk taker, an idea engine and an out-of-the-box thinker — the very definition of the word entrepreneur," it wrote. "When starting his first company, Murdough brought the rarely used process of rotational molding to the toy industry. At a time when the whole industry was going to injection molding, Murdough opted to go the other way."

Among those who nominated him? Isaac Larian, the founder & CEO of MGA Entertainment Inc., which now owns Little Tikes.

So you've resolved to get fit in the new year. And you want to work on saving money too? Employees of Confer Plastics Inc. in Tonawanda, N.Y., can get a head start on both projects.

In a post to employees on its Facebook page, Confer, a blow molder of pool and spa items, said it is offering employees $200 toward gym memberships, yoga classes, exercise equipment and other items needed to make workers' lives a little healthier in 2020.

Confer isn't the only company out there with fitness assistance programs. Many of them turn up in our Best Places to Work list each year. Keep an eye out for our coverage of that program in March. And if you think your company qualifies as a best place? Applications will open in the summer for the 2021 listing.

Even research guru Hollee Keller's dog, Scoose, thinks we need some holiday relaxation. (He also may think Mom should take that silly hat off of his head, but is simply putting up with her.)

Plastics News will be taking some time off for the rest of the year, but we will be keeping an eye out for breaking news. So if there's a late-breaking merger or unexpected weather threatening plastics production, you can still check plasticsnews.com for information you need.

Otherwise, we'll see you in 2020.