A Christmas Play.

I said I would be in charge of the games on Christmas day when we joined a couple of friends. A trip to the 2 dollar shop saw me armed with handfuls of possibilities. For about $20 we had an afternoon filled with madness and laughter. The most popular were the plastic racing cars powered by balloons. It was quite a skill to blow the balloon via the exhaust, and not let the air out until the start of the race.

So there we were; adults squashed in together at the start line on the lounge floor. Countdown; and they were off- or rather everyone elses were off. My car did premature victory laps. It just went round and round in circles whilst my friends cars zoomed past, crashing each other off the course and toward the

cushion finish line.
I lodged a protest. Having an engineer and a mechanic present proved a godsend. My car was then modified. How can a plastic car with only 2 moving parts can be modified? Believe me it is possible.
At the start line I positioned myself in the middle, lined up for the cushion. My car raced in straight and fast and won! My victory speech acknowledge the

racing crew and the pit boys. Chocolates were dished out as prizes and it was on to the next game.

Frog tiddly winks. A game of skill and co-ordination. Both of which were lacking slightly by this time in the day. For awhile we played according to the rules, and then innovation and creativity stepped in. How many frogs can jump at once. How high can they jump? The wine glass proved possible, as did the water jug. We drew the line at open mouths as targets.

So as a final wind down to our games, I introduced the balloon helicopter and we sat and watched the dog as it leapt excitedly around the garden and crashed through the flower beds as it followed the erratic flight of the helicopter. Who would be the one to retrieve it from the trees? As the games organiser I was exempt! We learnt some valuable lessons about flight paths, and obstacles.

I was reminded how we need to play and the excuse of Christmas should not be the only time when we retrace our childhood, get down on all fours and allow our playfulness to come to the fore.
I am thinking marbles and knucklebones will be next on our list and I won’t be waiting until next Christmas.