My family and I celebrated Chanukah (and Hanukkah) at my dad’s last weekend. The last remaining elder of my immediate family, he and his wife worked tirelessly to keep our traditions and unity alive by making a beautiful brunch decorated with the entire dreidel section from HomeSense. My dad also makes the best latkes from grated sweet potatoes, rendering them not only edible-unlike most other latkes-but totally delicious. I’m hoping he’ll tackle gefilte fish next.
Given my love of all things vintage, I was really into retro presents this year, like slinkies and snoopy sno-cone machines. I was most excited, though, about the Magic-8-Ball I got for my nieces, who are seven and five. The toy hasn’t changed one bit: its screen is still as hazy as ever, it still only shows an answer one out of every five times you use it, and the answers still seem to have been written by someone for whom English is a second language.
Not knowing what it was, the two girls weren’t so excited about it at first but when I explained to them that the Ball can answer any question with total, 100% accuracy, they were intrigued. I showed them how to use it.
“You hold the Ball and ask it a question,” I explained, “For instance, is Auntie Wendy the funnest Aunt ever? Then you turn it over for the answer.”
I flipped over the Ball so they could read the blue triangle: “It is certain.”
“See!?” I told them, “The Ball is all knowing.”
“How does it work?” they asked.
“It’s magic.”
They nodded reverentially.
The older one was ready to test it out. Holding the ball in between her two little hands she closed her eyes and asked: “Does my daddy love my mommy?”
She turned it over excitedly: “My sources say no.”
She looked up at me in horror.
“Well don’t ask something like that!” I recovered, “You’re supposed to ask it important questions, like, did Auntie Wendy eat too many cookies? Or..” I grabbed the ball. “Does my niece have a booooyfriend!?” I teased in a sing-songy voice.
“Yes, I do,” said my niece, matter-of-factly. “His name’s Noah. He’s really nice.”
The younger one nodded in confirmation. I could feel my funnest aunt status quickly slipping away.
“Who wants more cookies!?” I asked.
Status reinstated.
Eating between them, I felt an uneasiness. It was an icky feeling that felt different from the one I felt from eating all of my dad’s wife’s amazing Christmas cookies. The Magic-8-Ball obviously isn’t right, right? I mean, maybe it was when I was seven, but it’s not accurate any more. It doesn’t really have magical powers of prediction. It doesn’t, does it?
I leaned over to my brother. “Everything’s good with you and your wife, right? You guys still love each other and everything?”
“Yes,” he said, amused, “We still love each other. And everything.”
Obviously. I felt so silly. How old was I? Did I honestly think that this oversized Ball, made up of plastic, liquid and dye, operated on something other than mechanics and chance? That it really was clairvoyant? Come on! What’s wrong with me!? That’s so ridiculous. It’s not like it’s a ouija board.
What were some of your favourite childhood toys?
I saw the girls on Monday and when I asked them about their weekend, the first thing they told me was about their Magic 8 balls from Aunty Wendy 🙂 They were a big success! And yes, Noah is a nice boy!!
Oh, I’m so pherklempt! Thanks so much for letting me Stefanie, that is too sweet. Yes, Noah is a total catch!
I have an amazing aunt who is a now-retired high school English teacher. She bought me stack of books from Scholastic each year and I loved it! New books! NOT from the library! Such a treat!
It has taken me 20 years of marriage to realize that the remote-control toys my husband insists the kids “want”, were really for him. I finally bought him one of his own this year. Will he like it? What does the magic 8 ball say? (I am sure: “It is certain”). We have one of those here at the office btw. Vintage you say, eh?
Now that’s a fun aunt! I still get excited from new books (and old ones that are a really great finds from the used book store). Your husband and my husband should get together-he too is way to into my nephews’ toys. He would play in the ball pit at Ikea if he could!
Heehee! When I bought my daughters Spirograph and a Litebright they were lucky to get near them. Spirograph is still impossible to hold still but the best thing about the Litebright is it has four sides so we could do it together. My sister, husband and I, all had to have our own Barbies so we could play with the girls. We had our own clothes too-ours dolls liked to be all color-coordinated and pretty. My husband’s was-is Asian. She’s still on the shelf–we don’t talk about her.
Four-sided Litebright!? No way!! That’s amazing! I definitely need to get one of those. With two older brothers, I was more into action figures than Barbies but I totally get the accessorizing. My Mr. T. doll always had to be colour-coordinated, too. But what doesn’t go with that mohawk?
I knew your neices were going to be telling everyone about Aunty Wendy’s magic 8 ball. 🙂
My favorite gift was a pair of roller-skates. I must have been about 7 or 8 and I got them for Christmas. The MOST important thing about them was they had DOUBLE ball-bearings! As if I knew what that meant. 🙂 I skated up and down every street in our neighborhood until those things couldn’t be held together anymore. 🙂
You were for sure the coolest kid on the block Elizabeth! I don’t know what double ball- bearings are, but they sound amazing! I see retro roller skates sometimes and I always want to get them. They look like so much fun. And way better than roller blades!
Growing up, my neighbour a few years younger than I, always had all of the best toys. If it was on commercials, she got it the next day. As we were fairly new immigrants, my parents didn’t believe in buying us new toys unless they were $2 or less from a garage sale. To this day, my favourite toy, that I never owned, was the skip-it! I loved playing with my neighbour’s every chance I got! I wonder if they still make them… I would totally buy one for myself now!
I forgot about the Skip-it! That was an elementary school recess staple. I was terrible at it, but not nearly as bad as I was at the Pogo ball!
Litebright! I loved that shit. And I loved the Magic 8 ball as well. I just kept shaking it until I got the desired answer, Hey, that’s about not taking no for an answer! You have to persist. Slinky, four wheel rollerskates, yo yo, silly puddy, cigar gum and cigarettes! I had and loved them all. Thanks for the memories!
Hi Wendy, Just wanted to say, “Happy New Year!” to you and yours 🙂 May this be the year all your writing dreams come true 🙂
All the best,
Elizabeth