Memory Mining: One Pony or Two?
 |
| To be fair he had to use those ties with the little balls on the ends. |
After years of giving him a hard time about
his salon skills, I admit defeat at the challenge of chasing a child and inserting
decent looking ponytails. On the rare
occasion I find success, those stinkers yank 'em out within minutes.
What a sweet, if asymmetrical, memory. Ahh, my memory! That wonderful place where snow isn't cold
and Ramen Noodles taste expensive.
Have
you been shopping lately in your memory for picture book ideas? Maybe the memory itself isn't worthy of a
book, but the feeling that accompanies the memory is.
Rob Sanders (author of Cowboy
Christmas, which I was lucky enough to win from his blog) had a series of posts in the summer encouraging writers to document
those early memories as inspiration. Check out his charts to help you mine your
mind.
 |
| I didn't really care, as long as the tree was loaded! |
The holidays are a time of memories, aren't they? One Christmas morning I remember creeping down that same set of stairs where crooked ponytails were created and spying the presents in front of the tree. Though many were wrapped in crisp, colorful paper, my breath halted when I saw the Strawberry Shortcake dolls lined up in front of the presents. There were a million of them! (or maybe eight - but still!) Though the image is bright and vivid in my mind, I still like to open the box of Strawberry Shortcakes at home to get the fruitastic smell which accompanies the memory.
What is your favorite holiday memory?
My BFF from first grade said she will never forget that I came to school with one ponytail and one braid. I can't remember EVER doing that, but maybe the bus came early one day and the second braid was never finished?
ReplyDeleteGreat Christmas memory: Santa found the perfect purple snowmobile suit with a faux fur trimmed hood. It was ideal for the huge mountains of snow we had in my youth. Now, looking at the old photos, I see the piles were only about 3 feet high but they SEEMED bigger!
Oh Cathy that snowsuit sounds fabulous! I just found a snow picture too, with me walking down the sidewalk through one of those 3 foot high snow tunnels. I haven't seen it snow like that in a long time.
DeleteI also remember allowing sun-dresses in November, because Lauri said they were "twirlie".
ReplyDeleteIt's nice to know that she has the same
memories.
The Dad Involved
Yay Dad! And what are my kids wearing right now? Twirlie sun dresses in December. Those apples really don't fall from this tree.
DeleteFinding boot prints on our living room carpet from the fireplace to the Christmas tree! My dad had dipped his boots in soot and stamped them on the carpet. We were talking about it for years! :)
ReplyDeleteOh man! I am cringing - was that soot parade Mom approved? My Dad used to leave an old antique cane out some years too, that Santa left behind.
DeleteI won a book too. Rob is awesome. Great memories here. I love the twirly dress. I found my bike one year and Dad told me to act surprised. Man, did I put on a show for everyone. Ha. (Overacted) But it's a wonderful memory now. Thanks for taking me down this lane. Merry Christmas!
ReplyDeleteRob's site has become a lesson plan in "how to market your book"! He has done some very interesting things, and I've enjoyed seeing his friends, family and critique groups celebrate with him!
DeleteNice job acting under pressure. Does Mom know the truth about the bike?
I don't know why, but I don't have many Christmas memories from when I was a child. I do remember the Christmas candy Dad used to buy and the nuts in the shell that we cracked and ate. I remember the icicles on the Christmas tree and we always opened our presents on Christmas Eve, at least when I was old enough to remember it, maybe when I was little we might have opened them on Christmas morning.
ReplyDeleteThat's funny, I remember being enthralled with nut cracking at the holidays. We didn't usually have a bag of nuts-in-shells sitting around, so I guess it reminds me of Christmas too. And getting to use the nutcracker. And being old enough and strong enough to crack a nut myself!
DeleteMy most vividly remembered Christmas memory was when everyone in the family would pile into my grandmother's tiny house to eat gigantic meal and take part in a present opening riot. The house, with the kitchen stove constantly in use and packed so full of relatives, would get as hot and humid as a tropical rain forest. The smarter ones among us would wear tees and shorts under our sweaters and corduroys and would strip down as the need arose. The dumb ones (and we had a few) would swear a lot, sweat like pigs, and make frequent lumbering trips into the yard to cool down – a constant source of amusement to the rest of us.
ReplyDeleteIn retrospect though were the sweating pigs the dumb ones or the ones who wives said they had to wear their snowflake sweater and to just man up?
DeleteThe dumb ones.
DeleteThey were also the ones who recently married into the family and didn't know what to expect at grandma's.