Holiness in our midst – Session 11
SESSION XI: ON CHILDHOOD GAMES
What was your favorite childhood game?
Ring-Around-the-Rosie? Red Rover? Dodge Ball? Drop the Handkerchief? Hide the Thimble? Simon Says? Pin the Tail on the Donkey? The Hokey Pokey? Hide and Seek? Tag?
Why do you remember it? Where were you when you played it?
What I recall most vividly is playing Hide the Thimble in my maternal grandparents’ big farmhouse near State Center, IA. My grandmother Bessie Albright would hide the thimble really well; sometimes it took more than a half hour for me to venture through the downstairs rooms looking for the elusive object. (The basement, the upstairs and, of course, the sewing basket, were off-limits.)
She followed me on my quest. As I looked behind the frames of the photographs on the dining room buffet, she would explain how I was related to each family member. Was the thimble behind the faucet in the bathroom? No, but Grandma explained how wonderful Boraxo was for getting dirt off my little hands. I peered behind the heavy flowered curtains in the living room to see if it was on the window sill, as she mentioned that she had made those curtains herself. In the kitchen, while I looked behind (and in) the cookie jar, she explained her secret for keeping cookies soft and fresh. (Put a slice of bread in the cookie jar!)
I understand now what my grandmother knew then: Hide the Thimble was really a game of Discover your Family Heritage in disguise. Sometimes the thimble would be perched on top of the frame of the portrait of Jesus in the dining room. (Once I fancied I saw Him look up with his eyes to give me a clue!) After 15 minutes or so of looking, Grandma would tell me if I was getting Cold, or Warm, or Hot, leading me step-by-step to the thimble’s hiding place next to the Desert Rose dishes in the china cabinet or tucked inside the magazine rack among the well-thumbed Reader’s Digests, church magazines, and Sunday School quarterlies. After we finished the game, the thimble would go back inside the sewing basket with the embroidery project in progress. And we would start supper before Grandpa came in from the fields.
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STORY CIRCLE QUESTION: What childhood game do you remember best? Why?
FOR PERSONAL/JOURNAL REFLECTION:
- Read the above reflection out loud.
- Write a journal reflection: Recall playing your favorite childhood game. Who was there? Did you win or lose? Did that matter to you? Why does this game stand out? Was there a life lesson involved?
FOR GROUP STUDY:
- Read aloud Session XI.
- Ask each person to answer the Story Circle Question.