A few years ago, we got flooded out. Seriously flooded out. The trailer we were living in at the time got knocked free of its tiedowns when a car floated downstream and hit us, and trailer and five people on the roof floated downstream some more and lodged in a treeline about 200 feet away. Me, my husband, our roommate, and the kids were almost-six and almost-two.
We lost just about every thing but our lives. We lived in a hotel until we managed to rent a house just before Thanksgiving. We just about got back on our feet in time for Christmas.
What do you get for two kids who lost all their toys?
Well, what we got was a bunch of Winnie the Pooh beanie babies. Some were in Halloween costumes as Tigger. And we got a couple of Lego sets, and a Mega Block set.
We sent the kids to bed, and then spent a couple of hours setting things up. No wrapping paper, no bows, no boxes. Pooh and Piglet and Tigger stormed a chair, climbed Mount Upholstery, made friends with a robot, looked into a castle.
The next morning, Christmas morning, we were woken by giggling. "Momma, Poohbear!" Carrie claimed one of the Tiggers and carried it around for years afterwards. It was the best Christmas we've had yet, despite no tree and few presents and no family to visit or have visit.
I will remember losing everything for the rest of my life. I will remember my son building a robot for Piglet to fly, and offering to take my daughter's Tigger for a ride, for longer.
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ninetydegrees
no subject
on 2007-12-12 11:11 pm (UTC)We lost just about every thing but our lives. We lived in a hotel until we managed to rent a house just before Thanksgiving. We just about got back on our feet in time for Christmas.
What do you get for two kids who lost all their toys?
Well, what we got was a bunch of Winnie the Pooh beanie babies. Some were in Halloween costumes as Tigger. And we got a couple of Lego sets, and a Mega Block set.
We sent the kids to bed, and then spent a couple of hours setting things up. No wrapping paper, no bows, no boxes. Pooh and Piglet and Tigger stormed a chair, climbed Mount Upholstery, made friends with a robot, looked into a castle.
The next morning, Christmas morning, we were woken by giggling. "Momma, Poohbear!" Carrie claimed one of the Tiggers and carried it around for years afterwards. It was the best Christmas we've had yet, despite no tree and few presents and no family to visit or have visit.
I will remember losing everything for the rest of my life. I will remember my son building a robot for Piglet to fly, and offering to take my daughter's Tigger for a ride, for longer.