Here are some of Punch's old friends.
There was a day, not so long ago, when Peter Pan was about the coolest thing around. We cycled through our Peter Pan movie reperatoire daily, watching first the Disney Classic and then the live action version made in 2003 and then finally Return to Neverland, the Disney Sequel made in 2002. And I will admit, Peter Pan along with Alice in Wonderland, are two of my favorite Disney movies. I enjoyed watching them and singing along to their songs almost as much as my children did. Just the thought of them brings back so many happy memories.
As a result of our Peter Pan hero worship and in honor of Punch's third birthday, we threw him a Peter Pan Pirate Party (I still love the alliteration -- say it three times fast). I had a cake made with an illustration from one of his Peter Pan books reproduced in icing on the top. (This was before we discovered that food dye gave him migraines). I constructed a treasure hunt with clues on paper with burned edges leading the kids to each station where they found little pirate-y treasures. At the end of the hunt, we decorated golden treasure chests with sparkly jewels so that they'd have somewhere to store their treasures when they got home. It was a lot of fun!
Eventually we branched out and became interested in other pirate-y goodness, like Treasure Island and Treasure Planet and The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything not to mention the Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson Peter and the Starcatchers series. And with our burgeoning interests, our collection of pirate toys grew. You may see some of these toys at a later time.
The thing is, though it seems like yesterday to me, Punch said good-bye to those childhood pals, and I have been storing them in plastic boxes ever since. It is time now for me to let them go.
I get this notion that I want to keep my children's beloved toys so that their children (some 12 to 20 years from now) can breathe new life into them, but that it absolutely ridiculous. What I realize, with the exception of maybe a very few really special things, is that when my children have children, it will be much more satisfying for everyone involved to buy them new toys. What I am really doing it saddling my own kids with a burden that will weigh them down. If I keep them 20 years, it sets them up to think that they should keep them as well. It really is an unfair position in which to put them considering that what we are talking about are just inanimate pieces of plastic.
And so, I have decided to photograph these treasures (since I enjoy photographing miniatures and toys so much anyway) and then let them go. Mr. Peter and Mr. Hook, here, are first on the list. And though they still charm me with their jocular smiles and the promise of adventures still untried, it is time for me to say good-bye to them.
Tell me, what is it that you hang onto for posterity?
To see what is happening in the dollhouse, please visit Adventures at Weathertop.
