One bag held a pot of glue, some plaster of paris mix, a balloon, and a couple of cheap paintbrushes - the sort you can pick up at the hobby store for about twenty-five cents. The other bag held, mostly, shredded styrofoam that was supposed to simulate sand. And shards of pottery.
The idea was that you were playing at being an archaeologist. You had these shards of pottery, and you figured out how they went together, and you glued them together. Then, because the kit strived for authenticity, and there were always a couple of huge holes left when you'd run out of shards, you blew up the balloon inside the pot, and used the plaster of paris to fill in the holes. When you were done, you'd have a reasonable facsimile of a pot from some specific archaeological period, which was explained on the directions that I never read after the first time. There was a silhouette of the pot on the outside of the box, in case you had trouble getting started, but that was all the help it gave you - I always wondered whether they made the actual pots and then carefully broke them and threw away a couple of shards, or if the shards were manufactured that way. The pieces fit together as if they'd really been broken, but I never got the same kit twice, so I couldn't check.
Once, because I thought it was too easy when all the pieces went into the same pot, I broke down a couple of pots I'd already made in previous years (the glue dissolved easily in water) and put them all together in the pile of styrofoam sand that came with a new kit and spent a happy couple of days re-sorting them. (Hey, look, I found a link! According to those pictures and my memories, I did the Jericho, Megiddo, and Samaria pots.)
The reason this is in my mind is that yesterday, Matt got a package from his mother. In it were his Christmas present, wrapped (and now waiting patiently under the tree) and his ornaments. Most of his ornaments have his name on them, and are the sort of ornaments that a young boy would pick out, or perhaps the sort of thing people give to young boys. There are a couple of Superman ornaments, and a rocking horse, and a little blackboard that a teacher made... Two ornaments broke in transit. One of them just had a piece pop off its backing, and would obviously be easy to fix.
The other is a scarecrow (a la Wizard of Oz) made out of children's colored dough - not even Play-Doh, but the homemade stuff. I didn't ask Matt whether he made it himself. It was obviously the work of an amateur, though very good for an amateur. The cheap dough had crumbled in the rigors of shipping, though. The legs had broken off fairly cleanly, and a few brushes of superglue were enough to right them. There were other bits and crumbles in the tissue paper, though, that were never going to be replaced. There was one other piece big enough to be re-attached, and as I hunted for its precise location, I remembered the Antika kits. (The piece wound up to be from the center of the crumbles, and would've looked kindof dumb, reattached, so I left it off. Luckily, it was from the back of the ornament.)
I don't have a childhood collection of ornaments like Matt's. My mother keeps a single clothespin person I made when she was going through an arts-and-crafts phase. She made about two dozen of these little clothespin people, in Christmas theme, from a kit, and let me make one. I made a fourth wise man (I was obsessed with the wise men at the time) which actually turned out pretty well considering I was six, and then guaranteed myself a world of embarrassment for the next twenty years or so by writing "By Carol" on his gown with magic marker, big enough to be seen from across the room. And there are a couple of ornaments I made in school out of cardboard and embroidery floss that are actually very neat-looking, but falling apart from age. That's about it.
I have a collection of ornaments that my parents bought for me. The year I was born, a store (I think it was J.C. Penny's, but I'm not sure) began an annual release of sterling silver ornaments along the "Twelve Days of Christmas" theme. I am my parents' first child, and I was born toward the beginning of November, so when that first Christmas rolled around, they were still very excited. They wanted to start a tradition, I guess. For that year and eleven years after, one of my presents was always that year's ornament. I remember recognizing the box and looking forward to it - the ornaments are beautiful - but I also remember the last couple of years my mother commenting how she was glad it was almost over.
My brother got a collection of silver bells that started being released the same year he was born, because my parents are nothing if not fair. But I think they stopped his around ten or so because he admitted he didn't really care. Or maybe they pushed on until he had twelve. It's hard to remember.
I've still got my ornaments. Right now, as I type, they're sitting in their protective boxes, all together in a bigger box, in my living room. I'd thought of putting them on the tree, but the tree kept falling over, and I didn't want to chance damaging any of them. And now that the tree is stable again, we're pretty happy with the number of ornaments on it anyway. Another dozen - even beautiful collector's edition silver ornaments - would just make it look cluttered.
So they're in a box.
Hmm. I've still got a garland I haven't put up yet. Maybe I'll run it up the bannister and hang the ornaments from it.
Do you have an ornament collection? Join my extremely low-volume mailing list and answer the survey!
Anyway, all that was on my mind, so I thought I'd share. It's exactly one week from Christmas today, and I have got to get out the invitations for the New Year's party. We're going to a party tonight - I need to dig out something festive to wear. I found the last present I wanted to get for Matt, and then a couple more besides. I feel much happier with his presents, now that the dorky and goofy ones can be relegated to supporting roles. I am finally done Christmas shopping!
And I only have one more baking thing to do - a peppermint cheesecake for Christmas dinner dessert. I've never made it before, so I'm contemplating making something else as well in case it turns out to be gross. Any suggestions? Maybe I'll just bring some extra cookies and fudge.
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