Trouble for Trumpets is an oversized elegantly illustrated children’s book I was given as a kid. Each page is chock full of beautifully detailed drawings. Of particular interest is it’s attention to the natural world and even little ‘key’ elements that explain what every plant on the page is. Trumpets are a group of peaceful happy summertime creatures, and their enemies the Grumpets aren’t. They are evil and mischievous, they want to conquer and destroy. They love dark cold wintertime.

I probably read that book a hundred times in bed at night, as a little kid. With so many tiny surprise discoveries to be made, I eventually found them all. Even a couple topless Trumpets are there, if you look real close.

Anyway, the thing this book reminds me of, are the gifts I was given as a kid. There were so many generous people around us, as we grew up. Of course our family bought presents at birthdays and Christmas, but my parents friends did it too. The ones that stick out most in my mind, are the puzzles, the brain games, the unique and even weird things that I was given.

I don’t remember as much about sports items or spider-man. I do remember though, the science experiments or books on ancient Egypt. I thought that people wanted me to explore with my mind. I thought they saw value in creativity and exploration. I thought the lack of being given everything Spiderman or all of the Transformers was kind of a blessing.

I don’t remember other kids having as much interest in National Geographic Maps that I always found in my grandparents basement. Their collection of those magazines were my ‘internet’ and ‘google’ as a kid. You could just grab a stack anywhere in the dozens of shelves worth, and travel the world.

It was christmas just yesterday. We gave some kids some toys. I loved watching their faces and seeing their excitement. It is hard to not want to just spoil the crap out of them, because I get so much joy from it.

I hope that being involved in the lives of my nephews gives them a different look at the world than what they will find prevalent in our modern culture. I hope something I do, will impact them later on in life. I am thankful for the present I got long ago, a book called Trouble for Trumpets. Someone took the time to purchase something unique and interesting for me.

In the case of my Grandparents and their massive magazine collection, it didn’t stop there. Every day-trip I remember with my Grandma, was fun, but always educational too. She wanted us to see museums and discover.

I hope something I do, out of my own interests, shows a kid the world. I hope just pointing my attention in a unique direction will shed light on something the normal world isn’t already gilding in flashing neon.

I was a lucky kid. I hope that I can help some other kid too feel lucky, and not just spoiled, even at a time like this. Like Christmas.

Sincerely,

Aaron Nichols