Indispensible
Tho’ Halloween is now two weeks past, we continue to sell the wonderful hats and cloaks by Fairy Finery, and other dress-up items we stock. I’m glad, for from our own experience as parents, I know how much pleasure these costumes bring to our boys year round. They are, in fact, the most indispensible and versatile items in the toy chest: not a day passes without a cloak coming out, its uses changing according to the interest of the day. The boys have been knights, wizards, vikings, robbers and (when the Star Wars craze at school was at its peak) Jedi. While we throw on a fleece for a fall walk, the boys wrap themselves in their cloaks and slide swords through their belts, ready for any adventure we may encounter.
A friend, hearing that the boys still love to dress up, reminded me of a story I’d told him: I was at my desk, near the office window, when I looked up to see both boys dressed in full kit, kneeling solemnly before a cross they had lashed together of sticks. Startled, I asked them what they were doing, to which they replied, “We are burying the King.” Such is the power of a good toy on the imagination.