Imaginations, Paper Dolls, and the Warmth of Home

Tag Button, Button, Who’s Got the Button? Hide and Seek Fox and Geese Kick the Can Red Rover Croquet King of the Hill Crack the Whip (while ice-skating) Simon Says

I played outside with my sisters and the neighborhood kids, Marilyn and Patty McFarland, Eilene Peterson, Carolyn and Kent Reichenberg, and Erladine and Jean Hoglund. We didn’t have many store-bought toys. Instead, we used our imaginations. We played mostly with our dolls. Mom would spread the old army blanket out on the ground under the shade tree in the front yard and we were content playing House for hours. We played dress-up with cast-off clothes from the rag bag and used Mom’s old high heels and purses. I can still see Barb and Margie Britz, her best friend and our neighbor, prancing around in long formals and high heels. We also played in a big canvas tent that Marilyn and Pat had. I played paper dolls endlessly with Carolyn Reichenberg in her attic. I spent many happy hours quietly cutting out paper dolls or playing with my dolls on the kitchen linoleum while Mom ironed and listened to Art Linkletter’s House Party or Arthur Godfrey on the radio. These are warm secure memories for me. Mom was in her kitchen and all was right in my world. We played with Madeline Hancock and her four or five brothers. They had a deserted house trailer on their property and we loved playing in it. Their dad had a strange job. He had a panel truck with the back end full of equipment used to sharpen knives and scissors. He traveled around to all the area butchers shops and grocery stores sharpening their knives. We rode old bikes—mostly boy’s bikes. We would stand on the cement block wall by the chimney to get on. I did get a new red bicycle one year. I wish I could remember my age. I was inside the house and Daddy called me to come out into the front yard. I stepped out the front door and said, “What do you want, Daddy?” I didn’t even notice the new bike he was standing beside. He said, “Well, come here a minute.” I was practically on top of my new bike before I finally saw it. I was so proud of that new bike. Something brand new at our house was something to cherish. We made our own kites out of newspaper, thin pieces of wood and string. Bernie and Bob helped us girls, but I was never very successful getting mine to fly. My sisters and I made flowers out of Kleenex. They were fun to make. Just stack several Kleenex on top of each other, then fold them accordion style, find the center, and attach a bobby pin. Then, separate the Kleenex sheets and fluff them up. We wore these in our hair and thought they were perfectly beautiful. In the winter we would go to the woods behind the Swanson’s house to slide on our sleds. When I think about it now, I don’t know why we weren’t killed. The hills were really steep and there were many trees to run into. All I do know is we would be frozen stiff by the time we got home and couldn’t wait to warm up in front of the old brass heat register in the front room. We played hopscotch, made Kool-Aid stands and played jump rope and Double-Dutch in the street.