Memory Making

When I was young I remember sitting around the kitchen table (about this time of year) with my mom, her friends, and their kids making christmas ornaments out of felt. The adults, god bless 'em, would cut out all the little intricate felt shapes, and we'd glue them together, one circle layered on top of another, until we had something resembling a snowman. Of course, my snowman's eyes would be a bit cockeyed, and his carrot nose looked more like a cigar in some strange W.C. Fields rendition of a snowman. And I'm sure, at the time, I was a bit non-plussed at the lack of utter perfection of my ornament, but the only memories that have remained with me, all these years later, are those of absolute joy in making those ornaments with my friends and family.

My mom still hangs those ornaments on the tree every year.

It really doesn't take a big production to create a memory making event - all it really takes is the intention to do so. We didn't have a lot of fancy supplies - really, only felt, scissors, and glue - but my mom made it fun, by making it an "event."

You can do this with just about anything - a meal, a movie on TV (or DVD)... HECK, if you're really good, even Cleaning the house could be an "event" -- every year, on the first spring-like day of the season, my mom would pop on some Joni Mitchell, tie a bandana around her hair, don some yellow rubber gloves & we'd be cleaning fiends as we sang our hearts out to In France They Kiss on Main Street. I never had so much fun cleaning the house as I did on those days with my mom & Joni.

All it takes is the intention and the right attitude to make something special.

so, the next time you pop in a DVD to watch with friends or Family (or even by yourself), why not make some crazy popcorn concoction, or turn it into a pajama party?