Puzzles...Pieces of a Dream

Have you ever felt bored at home on a rainy day? What are some fun activities that you did as a child? Did you draw, paint, read, play board games, or put puzzles together?

As a child, I loved to put puzzles together rain, or shine! I remember doing puzzles in my home as a vivid childhood memory. This was one activity that my two brothers, my sister, and I did together. And so did our mom and dad on many occasions.

One of the reasons why it was my favorite thing to do as a family, I think, is because the whole family was able to participate. There was no sibling rivalry or competition because we all wanted to work together to build something that seemed impossible or even daunting at first. This was our Mt. Everest!

Sometimes, we would even glued a few puzzles pieces together and kept them together permanently as a picture on the back of a piece of cardboard... nothing fancy. Also, we would keep a puzzle laid out on the dining room table for as long as it would take to finish it. This could take up to a month or more. Thus, one could always find some thing to do indoors if one was bored.

I remember that our family had a puzzle strategy and that was to work together to get the straight edges of our puzzle together as quickly as possible. Then we would all gravitate to any given area to work on the colors or images we individually wanted to work on. We would often find puzzles pieces for each other and would help out by locating key pieces for each other.

Although I spent most of my childhood days outdoors in my yard, climbing trees, playing school and eating fresh fruit from our trees, but my most favorite thing to do as a child was making a puzzle. Our family worked as a team. We had a proven plan and system. I still do puzzles this way today.

In our current home, we have a breakfast nook area that is dedicated as a puzzle zone. Truth be told, it is sometimes used for multiple purposes other than a puzzle zone. However, in our dream house, you can be sure that there will always be a puzzle waiting to be put together. We would have a room or a location with a large table preferably, a circular table, that would exclusively be used as a puzzle table. No dual purpose here ever! I hope that you get my drift.

In addition, we would only choose puzzles that are meaningful to our family. And we would invest into framing a few of the exquisite ones for decorating some room in our home. Doing twelve large puzzles per year as a family would be an awesome goal. Perhaps even one a month. We plan to invite extended family and friends over to help with putting some of our puzzles together. Friends and family would know to expect that they might be invited to help us with a puzzle when visiting.

Moreover, My husband and I bought a puzzle over 20 years ago. We put it together while we were engaged. When we finished, my husband wanted to frame it and give it back to me as a wedding present. So after the puzzle was completed I did not lay eyes on it until my wedding night. He framed and matted the picture in a very beautiful way. He took an ordinary but beautiful puzzle and made it into a beautiful masterpiece just for me.

Today, this wedding gift is the center piece in our living room and it sits above the fireplace. This framed puzzle is one of my most precious possessions in our home. It has appreciated in value with time. It gives me much joy to look at and is my favorite conversation piece.