Maggie's Farm

Our backyard hill was the best sledding spot in the neighborhood. Most of the kids in the area would be there on any given winter afternoon and a Snow Day assured a packed house. Flexible Flyers when the snow was packed enough, "saucers" and even cardboard boxes were popular as well. No innertubes. Those were rare and valuable, saved for summertime river tubing.

Jumps were laboriously fashioned at the bottom and bragging rights for length and height were taken seriously. One metal saucer was tied to a tree with a length of clothesline. About 3/4 of the way down the line would pull tight, ejecting the rider in a flurry of parkas, mittens and boots lined with Wonder Bread bags.

Mom would make real hot cocoa, warm milk and Nestle's Cocoa, with just a bit of sugar, thick, gooey layers of Marshmallow Fluff on top.


Good clean fun, outdoors in the brisk winter air. Rosy cheeks and runny noses. Soggy mittens and cold hands wrapped around warm mugs. Competition and fellowship, mixed with the sheer joy of being young and having no more responsibility than having the best time possible, for as long as possible. The streetlights coming on was the universal signal that the day was done; best be home before Mom had to come looking.

Aside from some bumps and scrapes, no one was ever hurt. The idea that we should wear safety gear and establish rules would have been greeted with the special kind of derision that can only be practiced by the very young or the very old.

Nowadays? Not so much...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MjGPBLdRfww