Parents: Dont Sweat The Christmas Shopping

Most of my friends have or are starting families of their own at this point. And, looking at the crazes that seem to sweep the country in toys each year (Furby, Elmo, Pokemon) has got me thinking back to my own childhood and what toys I valued most. I can remember the crazes of my younger days–Garbage Pail Kids, GI Joe, and Cabbage Patch Kids (remember the mad rushes to get them and moms actually were PUSHED by a deranged parent desperate to get one for her daughter). Oh, and by the way, I had a Cabbage Patch of my own...I forget his name but how embarrassing. My mom made me put him on my bed but I "lost him" one day while playing with my dogs. It seems to me that then, and probably now, “fad” toys were good for about two weeks–once the coveted item had been seen by all of your envious friends, it sat at the bottom of the toy chest.

There were some toys that provided constant joy to me–my Hot Wheels and Matchbox cars, all of my construction toys and blocks, but the one thing I always enjoyed most cost nothing and wasn’t a toy at all.

I am speaking of the ever-popular cardboard box. Nothing inspired more hours of fun than a large appliance box, obtained free from the shipping dock of the local furniture store. Placed in the edge of the woods out back, with hastily cut windows and doors, the box became an instant fort. I remember one particularly dry summer when Mom carted home two large refrigerator boxes. Placed end-to-end, the “fort” seemed huge to my older sister and myself. The windows were created by cutting I-shaped slits in the corrugated material, allowing them to be folded back (instant shutters). This particular fort even had the luxury of skylights, and with a box of Crayola markers sis and I created instant “wallpaper.” Add sticks, leaves, hay from the cow pasture behind the house and a little mud, we had our own abode that would rival indigenous tribes in remote parts of South America.

Besides a fort, cardboard also doubled as a sled. One of the funnest items I can remember ever having. Sit in the middle of the cardboard then cut out a square leaving 2 feet on each side of you. Take to the nearest hill and slide, climb, slide, climb....mom would send me out on Saturday morning and I wouldn't see her to the supper bell rang at dusk. Throw in a few dirt clod fights at the local sand pit and I was in heaven. There was one hill at the local swimming pool that was huge. It was always a right of passage for your siblings to pass this hill on to you once they were too old. One hot summer day my brothers were rummaging through the dumpster at the top of the hill looking for a nice cardboard for me on my first trip down "Thrill Hill". I climbed the hill to join them and that was my first mistake. I was captured, stripped naked and carried to the launching point and pushed. At first I was terrified and quickly thought about the consequences of this mutiny....all of my friends are laughing at me, there are girls at the bottom, what if I fall off and scrap up the goods, I am going to have to walk all the way back up that hill naked, or worse, what if they don't give me my clothes back. But those thoughts quickly ended, not because I was enjoying myself, but because someone threw an orange and it hit me square in the throat knocking me off about 100 yards short of the landing area. Luckily I wasn't severely injured physically (except for 2 degree grass/gravel burns on my backside) but mentally I was a wreck...for about a week. After that you couldn't keep me off that hill.

So, to all you parents. If this grand ole' recession has cramped your pocketbook, pick up that Wii then stop off by your local dumpster on the way home. They will never know it was used and a kid's imagination is grand. Just don't tell them it was my idea.