About a month ago, the man and I were out to dinner at a surprisingly quiet Caplansky’s (mmmm…knish). While we waited for dinner, I watched a young family at another table waiting for their meal. There were two young boys, happily colouring away. It triggered a memory of when I was a kid, and I told Keith about how I always wanted, no, longed for, the big pack of Crayola crayons with the sharpener on the back. I made my desire known to Santa, but I think he must have misheard me. While I did get a big pack of crayons for Christmas, it was a disappointment. They weren’t Crayola (which as every kid knows, is the perfect waxy hardness for drawing on any surface) and the box didn’t have the sharpener on the back. The desire remained unfulfilled.
We don’t make a big deal out of Christmas. This year, we gave each other a 3-night getaway at a cottage by a lake complete with fireplace and hot tub. However, we still collect small treasures for each other and do a stocking to open while we are drinking the Christmas happy coffee. Wedged inside my stocking this year was, you guessed it, the Crayola 64 pack.
With the sharpener on the back.
I am surprised by how pleased I am with this gift. I have yet to actually use them in any way; I don’t even know if I will. I am entranced by that pecurliar smell that is a combination of wax and paper and childhood. I’ll pull one out, any random colour, and spin it between finger and thumb to read the name in three languages (macaroni & cheese / maccarones con queso / macaroni au fromage), then close my eyes and hold it close to my nose. In one whiff I am eight years old again, laying on the floor of the rec room and arguing with my brother over the last broken bit of good red.
Keith laughs every time. And wonders if I’ll ever wear them down enough to use the sharpener on the back.
on Dec 29th, 2009 at 9:03 pm
I am soooooooooooo jealous of your gift. I was a coloring addict as a child, but it was also upsetting to me to have crayons of different points. Even with the sharpener, you can never recreate the perfect row of cones captured so beautifully in your picture.
I vote for not using them.
And when did they add colors in three different languages?
on Dec 31st, 2009 at 12:52 pm
My mom and I use to colour every Christmas. We would get a new colouring book and crayons (if we needed them) and sit and colour while the turkey cooked. One of my best Christmas memories.
on Jan 2nd, 2010 at 1:34 am
Its the thought that counts . . . and I remember how much I, too, coveted the 64 box.