The things of which memories are made...

My wish for everyone for this holiday season is plenty of time with the people you love.

As a child, my house was full of puzzles, maple blocks, wooden train sets, board games and a smattering of toy animals and people.  More important than these things were the "unexpected" toys, the tools for our imaginations.  It is playing with these things that I remember most, which is likely due to the imaginative play or skits we created to go along with our experience, like how we re-purposed our backless cabinet/changing table into a "magician's box" by laying it on its back.  My sister and I were oft to be found popping out of the two doors at the sound of my brother saying the magic words.  In the summer, this cabinet was brought out to the back porch where one of the wooden boards was not screwed down.  We would perform our usual popping out trick, but for the finale, my sister and I could remove the board, slip down through the stringers and truly disappear! Ta Da!

One family event which resonates so strongly for me and captures the essence of what I mean was our kitchen derby.  We had one of those portable dishwashers which we could pull out from under the counter and roll over to the sink (think: square, enclosed shopping cart with no handles but with similar maneuverability).  You would have to unclasp the hose from the back and attach it to the faucet (similar to a garden hose attachment) and uncoil the electric cord and plug it in.  It had a lovely flat top perfect for sitting on.  Now picture: a large kitchen; a square oak table in the middle with just enough space to circle around it (when the chairs are pushed in); and a long front hallway. Add in a small red tricycle which resided in the front hall.

Here's the scenario:  My father driving the dishwasher (with or without dishes), with either my sister or me on it, around the kitchen in a race with the tricycle, where the other of us resided.  The Indy 500 had nothing on us, we would race around the kitchen laughing and screaming as the dishwasher careened around corners and survived the 360 turns which the wheels made it do.  The person on the tricycle would pull out chairs from the table in order to slow down the careening beast looming over your shoulder.  Where was my mother?  Laughing and jumping out of the way lest she accidentally become part of the action!  Fun never had it so good. 

The things of which memories are made, heart-racing action and lots of laughter shared with the people you love.  Cheers.