My parents had a giant storage space in our garage. Painted aqua marine, it stood about six feet high and ran around eight feet long. It took in lots of seasonal goods and was the resting spot for discarded sports equipment, including most of my out of season hockey gear.
Whenever one of us was searching for some long lost item and we’d looked everywhere twice, my Mom would say “did you look in the blue thing”? Although one might think this was the garage version of the kitchen junk drawer, it housed some of our most important possessions. On Thanksgiving weekend, with the car left in the driveway, we’d empty the contents of a years worth of crammed stuff that was blocking the furniture store sized cardboard boxes. A few spiders and plenty of gray cobwebs had taken up residence since the last time anything had moved in this myriad of treasure.
Unpacking each box was like Christmas itself as we pulled out the oversized lights, giant illuminated Santa face, and Christmas Snoopy that hung on the front door. Even though we had a pretty good idea what was coming out of each box, the sense of discovery was palpable between my sisters and I. This was the true start of our very favorite time together as a family. My Dad and I would stretch lights the length of the driveway trying to find that one bulb interrupting the functionality of the others. My sisters would untangle the fake juniper that bordered the front porch. They also added silver foil icicles to the living room window. In one day, our house would take on the look even Clark Griswold would appreciate. All the interior decorations lived in the attic, a cold and musty spot accessible through a two foot ceiling panel. Standing on the top rung of the ladder, my Dad would hand my Mom the special pieces that would transform the interior of our two story house.
Once I’d grown to the needed height, I too, was able to stick my head into the vast empty space that was covered in grey, cotton looking insulation. With the dining room table stretched to it’s limit, all our most valued Christmas talismans lay awaiting the results of our Sunday search for the perfect Christmas tree.
Twenty five miles north and four decades later, our garage doesn’t include the blue thing but does have large plastic bins stacked on shelves containing treasure of equal value to those I admired in my youth. Similar themes including Snoopy bring my Mom’s spirit as I pull each one and lay it on the extended dining room table in our two story house. Daniela, Jill, and I have collected our own set of special memories that hang in the light of our fresh cut tree. I’m hopeful Daniela will someday revisit the long term value of these treasures with her own family as she lays each one on her extended dining room table.