Last week we went to dinner at the *Moseman’s house, (*name changed to protect the innocent, and not so innocent :)). After a great dinner, we were sitting around eating “cutie” oranges (the kind that are so easy to peel). The kids (five of them ages 6-18) were peeling their oranges in really elaborate designs. Later, I saw that the peel was on the Christmas tree, and I laughed about it, until I noticed that there were a lot of peels on the Christmas tree.
When I pressed the issue, I was told that the girls of the family decorated the tree in orange peels this year. I love it! I love that the kids are allowed to do their wacky ideas in that house. The thing that’s really amazing about this family is that the father and grandfather build airplanes. Not model airplanes, but real two passenger airplanes in the barn in their backyard.
Yeah, as in “See ya later Ma, I’m just going to go out and build an airplane with Dad, be back for dinner!”
We had the dinner with the Mosman Grandparents and the grand matriarch, let’s call her Maggie, asked me to look at a book that her daughter had written and illustrated. The design of the children’s book took my breath away, and even more shocking was the fact that this daughter had written it when she was a teenager.
The house was full of inventions, design, and creativity. I asked Maggie how she taught her children to be so creative, and she said that it was because she and her husband were creative. But I need to add that these people were not just the “idea” type of people, but the “doing” people as well. The couple possessed the twin virtues of vision and work ethic – and the kids followed suit.
I told Maggie a little about my oldest daughter (who calls herself an artist). Maggie told me that in order to encourage her, I should go to the store, buy some mats, and frame her work.
A couple of days later, my daughter drew a picture for me and wrapped it up as a present. I took Maggie’s advice, and bought a frame. When I showed the frame to “J”, she looked like her five-year-old heart would burst with joy and gave me a gigantic hug.
When I asked the Orange Peel father (Maggie’s son) about writing this post and how often the girls decorate for holidays, he said that they are fanatic about it, “doing up the home” with wonderful wacky children mayhem for every holiday. I asked if he was OK with it, and he said, “you think I could stop them?”
I guess orange peels on the tree serve a grand purpose after all, your kids just might end up being the next Wright Brothers!