It feels good to give little gifties to people. If only I could afford to give gifties to EVERYONE - if I had a big enough supply of creative juices and extra time, and maybe even baking supplies - I would give anonymous gifties to every single one of you. Can you feel the love? I hope so.
Recently saw an article published in WIRED, titled The Five Best Toys of All Time. What a great list! It points to how simple, basic - and happy - our lives can be.
THE LIST: Stick, Box, String, Cardboard Tube, Dirt.
#4 was our favorite, followed closely by #1, #5 and #2. We had some great dirt around the horse ranch, and in the vegetable garden. (lol!!) In the old days, wrapping paper was stored on terrific strong cardboard tubes. They were heaven on earth. Paper towel tubes used to be stronger, too. Even now, my heart skips a beat when I come across a good cardboard tube. (As long as I don't think about trees too much...)
:-) Actually I was the kind of mom that worried about string, so my boys didn't get to play with it much. Tape was pretty good, though, if we had enough to use on a game. And nothing quite equals the joy of having big cardboard boxes, and someone willing to cut windows and/or portals.
A blanket over a table is good, too....and couch cushions on the floor, standing on end. Fort!
After I marched in protests against the Vietnam War during the late 60's and early 70's, I was determined to keep my first boy away from the trappings of WAR and its ravages. My early Christmas advice to relatives: "No plastic toy guns, please, no GI Joe figures..." Then I find my sweet-faced toddler making a gun with his fingers. Thumb up, forefinger pointed, the rest of the fingers curled back into the palm - BANG! BANG! Then he discovered sticks. There were about a million sticks in the shape of a gun, in our yard alone. By the 80's, most of the cardboard tubes were lightsabers, and Jedi knights ran unfettered around the back pasture.... And so it goes, with boys and toys.
My puppies loved empty water bottles - best toys ever! What a great noise they make. The pups also explored many dirt possibilities.
And piles of crunchy leaves. And bags and boxes and tubes. And a few soft plushy toys.
As they grew older and stronger, they began to rip everything up in less than 30 seconds (looking like they wanted to EAT every single bite), so they had to graduate to "big dog" toys. Ah well.
Our toys have evolved, too. (Sigh.)
No comments:
Post a Comment