Old Fashioned Christmas
pamelamyers | December 19, 2014
Sam has been asking me and asking me if we can string popcorn for the Christmas tree. Now that is something I haven’t done in years! Wow. I don’t think I’ve actually made a popcorn garland since I was a little kid. She has a book, If You Take a Mouse to the Movies and the book begins with the mouse wanting to make a popcorn string, which is where Sam first got the idea. I told her we could make one and bought the popcorn and dragged our old air popper out of the attic. My mom gave me the one we had when we were kids a long time ago and it has spent pretty much the entire time I’ve had it in my attic. I was a little worried the old popper wouldn’t work since I haven’t used it since, well….forever, but it worked like a charm! Boy, they don’t make things like they used to. I defy you to buy any small appliance today that will still work perfectly 30 odd years later! Those were the days, before microwave popcorn conquered the world.
Sam stood on a chair to wait for the popcorn to pop, having absolutely no idea what was going to happen.
When the popcorn started to come up and pour out of the bowl she was so excited! I remember when my brother and I were kids having to sometimes lay a kitchen towel over the plastic chute because the popcorn would come flying out like crazy. It wasn’t too bad last night, but about a dozen pieces flew into the air. Sam thought that was hysterical. Flying popcorn!
I set her up with a big needle and some dental floss and she got to threading. She stuck herself a few times in the beginning, but quickly got the hang of it. She worked so hard. You can see how seriously she is concentrating.
The string got longer and longer, and I had to help a bit. Her little fingers got tired! Sam did great though, she only broke a few pieces and managed to get almost every one she tried on the string.
At last! Long enough for the tree. Well, one strand anyway, but that’s all Sam really wanted.
Sam couldn’t run into our tree fast enough to hang it up. It looks pretty great, very festive, and very old fashioned. Like Christmas should be. Having a kid running around your house at the holidays really makes you remember what it was like to be little. I would never in a million years have thought to string popcorn, but Sam reminded me how fun it can be. Such a simple task. Thanks, Sam, for reminding your old mom how to be a kid again. 🙂
