Back in the Day, Part 2

Yesterday I did a post for one of my grand girls, Josie. She had been asking what I did for fun as a child – which she called “past times.” So today I will tell her my other past times as a child.

This is for Josie

I was a reader and I was an only child until I was 12. We lived on a farm with no other children around so I had to entertain myself most of the time.

I spent lots of time reading. I would also line up my dolls, stuffed animals, anything I could find and play either school or church. I could teach or preach, depending on the mood I was in! And let me tell you, when I was preaching, “the gates of hell could not prevail my church!”

“And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my  church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” Matthew 16:18

I was also probably the meanest teacher that has ever lived! I never spanked but I could give a speech to those misbehaving stuffed animals that would last for HOURS!! ( I’m sure it was only a few minutes but to me – hours!)

But what I spent most of my time doing was acting out the books I had read.

We had a piece of concrete over our septic tank and that was my “stage.” This is where Jo, Meg, Beth and Amy got into mischief. (I was always Jo.)

Donna Parker would go to Hollywood on this slab.

But my favorite book to act out was “Head of the House” by Grace Livingstone Hill.

 

The reason this was my favorite to act out was because Jennifer the oldest of 7 children ran away with her brothers and sisters to live on a house boat until she became of age which was in 3 months.

This cement slab made a wonderful house boat! The water lapping at the sides! – which was actually the green grass that surrounded it. - And I NEVER got sea sick!

What good times I had on that cement slab - for hours at a time.

I spent much of my childhood living in my imagination! Either in the books I was engrossed in, acting them out, playing school or church or with my paper dolls. It was an idyllic childhood.

For children who read, the world is open for them to explore anything, to learn about anyone. I cannot express in words the importance of reading to your children and the importance of  teaching them to love reading.

Do you read to your (grand)children?

Do you provide your (grand)children with good moral books to read? 

Back in the Day…..

The husband says this a lot. – “Back in the day.”

Last week one of my sweet grands called to say she had to write a paper about “past times.” Well, apparently, the husband and I lived in “past times.”

So I thought I would take her cue and talk a bit about what I did for fun “back in the day.”

This post is for Josie.

One of my favorite past times – until I was really too big to be doing this – was playing with paper dolls.

One time my Grandma Velma gave me a book with Lennon Sister’s Paper Dolls!

This was a rare treat. She knew my love of paper dolls and I treasured these.
I very seldom had manufactured paper dolls. My friend and I always cut our dolls out of the Sears and Roebuck Catalog.

Since we got these catalogs at least 2 times a year, we had families with 30+ members. These extended families included grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, brothers, sisters, moms and dads.  If we were REALLY lucky, our people would be complete. But often they didn't have their legs – (to make room on the pages for more merchandise Sears and Roebuck would print the models without their legs!)  But we didn't care – we used them anyway!

One of the great advantages of using the catalog for our paper dolls is that we also got furniture!

So, we would divide a double bed lengthwise, she would get one side, I would get the other and we would build our rooms to make our houses! It’s interesting to me now that I could remember the names of all of these paper dolls! Now I get my kid's and grandkid's names confused!!

We would play for hours in this creative world of paper.

The Good Ole Days.