Our holidays are drifting along with no plan at all. We haven't signed up for a single holiday programme — just endless playing, and thorough, deliberate laziness. Some days we walk along the beach or around the neighbourhood, other days it's a grocery run, and when boredom hits its peak, the mall or the library. We cook dinner most nights, watch movies late, and sleep in as long as we like. The kids' friends come and go, sometimes staying the night, and the days stretch out loose and free.
At the start of the holidays, Min went to the mall with her friends to see Toy Story 5. The other two and I haven't seen it yet. Instead, we loaded up on the kids' favourite popcorn from Farro, ate an early dinner at five, and marathoned Toy Story 1 through 4. Andy, once so small, was suddenly grown. The toys who'd once squabbled over love saw off their grown-up owner, bound together now by friendship instead. Someone finds a new love; someone else sets off in search of an old one.
On these cold-nosed winter nights, we'd switch on the electric blanket, pull the covers up, and sit together crunching popcorn. There were several nights like that. After Toy Story came Moana. With the live-action Moana on its way, we picked it for movie night. The next day, walking along the Mairangi Bay beach, we shouted "I am the Moana of Mairangi!" at the waves lapping our feet. The day after that, we watched Moana 2.
Both films happened to be in cinemas at the same time, so wherever we went, Toy Story and Moana merchandise kept catching our eye. Walking past the bookshop, Typo, or Smiggle, familiar faces would be waiting out the front like old friends.
It struck me — kids who once lived among apartment blocks are now growing up with a lawn for a yard and a beach within walking distance. The toys and the boy who outgrew them, the girl raised by the sea and the hero beside her — each of them grew a little by stepping past the edges of what they knew.
한국어 요약
이번 방학은 아무 계획 없이 흘러가고 있다. 홀리데이 프로그램은 하나도 신청하지 않았고, 끝없이 놀고 철저히, 일부러 게으르다. 해변이나 동네를 걷는 날도, 장 보러 가는 날도 있고, 심심함이 절정에 이르면 몰이나 도서관에 간다. 저녁은 대부분 집에서 해 먹고, 영화를 늦게까지 보고, 실컷 늦잠을 잔다. 아이들 친구들이 오가고 가끔 자고 가기도 한다.
방학 첫머리에 Min은 친구들과 몰에 가서 토이 스토리 5를 봤다. 나머지 둘과 나는 아직 못 봐서, 대신 Farro에서 아이들이 좋아하는 팝콘을 잔뜩 사다 다섯 시에 이른 저녁을 먹고 토이 스토리 1편부터 4편까지 내리 봤다. 코끝이 시린 겨울밤, 전기장판을 켜고 이불을 끌어올려 팝콘을 먹으며 함께 앉아 있던 밤이 여러 번이었다. 토이 스토리 다음은 모아나였다. 다음 날 Mairangi Bay 해변을 걸으며 발밑으로 밀려오는 파도에 "나는 마이랑이의 모아나다!" 하고 외쳤다.
마침 두 영화가 같은 시기에 극장에 걸려 있어서 서점에서도 Typo에서도 Smiggle에서도 토이 스토리와 모아나 굿즈가 오랜 친구처럼 우리를 맞았다. 아파트 단지 사이에서 살던 아이들이 이제 잔디 마당과 걸어서 갈 수 있는 해변을 곁에 두고 자란다. 아는 세상의 가장자리를 넘어서며 조금씩 자라는 건 영화 속 주인공들만이 아니다.
Yussi
Writer · Social work student, Massey University
A mother of three girls and a Korean immigrant making Mairangi Bay home — writing about starting school, home learning and everyday life on Auckland's North Shore.
More about Yussi →Frequently asked questions
- What can you do with kids during the school holidays without booking programmes?
- Ours drift along with no plan: walks along the beach or around the neighbourhood, grocery runs, the mall or the library when boredom peaks, dinners at home, late movies and sleep-ins — with friends coming and going, sometimes staying the night.
- How do you plan a family movie marathon at home?
- We picked a series and watched it in order — Toy Story 1 through 4 — with an early dinner at five, the kids' favourite popcorn, and the electric blanket switched on under the covers. The next nights we moved on to Moana and Moana 2.
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