kid stuff

It is beginning to look a lot like Christmas. But where is my usual festive feeling? Maybe because I haven't been feeling well I haven't got my mojo yet. I donno. It feels weird that I am not even a little bit excited. Not like me at all. I'm usually all about the holidays.

Maybe we need snow. That might do it.

I remember the excitement, as a kid, for the first significant snowfall. I remember what a big deal it was to be making snowmen and snow angels and having a wonderful time playing outside. The worst part was getting all bundled up and having to go to the bathroom... un-bundling and then doing it all again. We used to make some amazing igloos and forts. Tunnels and buried rooms and we had the best time! I don't remember it being as sharply cold as it has been these recent years, but maybe it's how we were prepared for the cold.

We had to entertain ourselves and we were (for the most part) kicked out of the house to play outside. We would take our Krazy Karpets into the field behind the house and sled down the hill for hours and hours. I remember the Avery's had a snowmobile, an old Ski-doo Bombardier, with max speed of 35 MPH. We'd hook our Flying Saucers up to the back and get towed all around the field. Nothing like hitting bumps with a metal ride. Yehaw! And then we would all take our frozen selves home for hot chocolate with marshmallows or with a spoonful of Fluff. I remember one winter when the next door neighbor, David, and I re-enacted all the old Ellery Queen shows we saw on the Canadian TV station. Lordy, how cable TV has changed our lives and made us dependent.

Today's generation (wow, does it feel weird to say that!) seems incapable of entertaining themselves outside. It seems like the imagination is gone. How was it possible for the whole neighborhood gang to get together for hours and then itch to do it all again the next day. Oooh, and playing outside at night--my older sisters would take flashlights into the tunnels and I could see the lights moving along the walls. None of my students have ever done that, they can't imagine the joy of an igloo hideaway! Knowing a lot of them, though, they'd toke up and melt the place around them. But... I digress.

Memories of Maine winters, of playing with the Fleetwood Street Gang, of hanging out, of freeeeeezing our toes off, and of the simple laughter and joy that came with having a group of best friends. Maybe not memories of Christmas, but definitely memories of Christmas vacations from school.

What if this is as good as it gets?