During noon recess, the first snowflakes of the season began to flutter from heaven. It seemed to be the answer to every student’s prayers. Everyone in the classroom acted wildly excited and had a hard time concentrating on classroom work. I knew I wasn’t the only one who wanted to watch the fuzzy, fluttery snowflakes grow into icy, school-canceling snowdrifts.

Although the snowfall became increasingly heavier that afternoon, school wasn’t cancelled early. By the time Daddy came into town to pick me and my sisters up from school, the countryside was covered with a white blanket.

When I walked into the farmhouse, Mom was in the kitchen making supper. Glancing over her shoulder at me, she teased, “Guess what came in the mail today. It’s something you will like.”

It couldn’t have been a letter. Being a kid, I didn’t get many of those other than when it was my birthday. Suddenly, I understood. the Sears and Roebuck catalog, a much loved wish book, had finally arrived! Not even taking off my coat, I flopped down on the living room floor to pore over the thick catalog’s toy pages. I immediately started picking out things I wanted and hoped Santa would grant all my wishes.

Back when I was in grade school, and truthfully, even for many years after that, I wanted many things for Christmas. I’m not sure when my focus changed from wanting things to wanting experiences. Don’t misunderstand, I will always enjoy receiving gifts, but now highly value looking forward to planning and having happy experiences.

One of those experiences occurred in September when my daughter Tammie and I debarked the cruise ship in Seattle and decided to stay in the city for a few days to sightsee and visit with relatives who live in Washington State. We stayed at a sweet Belltown hotel that had a small courtyard and an open rooftop patio, dozens of interesting stores and restaurants within walking distance. One of our wishes was to visit the Seattle Aquarium. We set aside Sunday afternoon for this adventure.

While on the cruise, my daughter and I didn’t get to see as much wildlife as we had hoped. Although on the crab boat in Ketchikan, we had the opportunity to hold large crabs, star fish and anemones. We wanted to see and experience more.

Early Sunday morning we took a bus to the Space Needle neighborhood to attend church. The parishioners were friendly and included my daughter and I in a meet-and-greet with coffee and treats after the service was over.

A festival celebrating Hawaiian culture was being held across the street on the Space Needle grounds. Tammie and I enjoyed taking in the holiday atmosphere as we slowly walked through the park to a taxi stand. The driver we hired to take us to Seattle’s aquarium on Pier 59 was friendly and talkative.

The Seattle Aquarium had several standout exhibits that amazed us. The first one we experienced was their tide pool exhibit. Visitors were encouraged to gently touch the creatures after thoroughly washing our hands. Sea cucumbers surprised me by how leathery their skin felt and the funny knobs on their bodies. Some had many more knobs than others. The one I touched was red. Tammie leaned in as far as she could reach to touch the starfish.

The sea otters were especially captivating. Two otters in the pool were diving about like happy children showing off, repeatedly coming to float next to the window we were looking through. With their small paws, they rubbed their faces and chests, making me think of my cats at home. They were cute and were acting like they knew they were cute!

The Seattle Aquarium built a huge addition to their facilities since our first visit, so we were eager to discover what it held. The new building contained a huge 325,000 gallon pool filled with hundreds of different types of fish. I sat on a bench in front of it, and the curved glass containing the water was so large that it was above me, and around all the way to my left and right. I enjoyed watching the amazing stingrays as they swam around. Several smaller fish followed the stingrays like stage door groupies. It took me a while to figure out why they were so attentive to the star. It turned out that the stingrays were eating, and some food was falling out of their mouths. The small fish were feeding on the fallout.

I no longer spend the weeks before Christmas poring over gift catalogs like I did as a child and hoping Santa would grant all my wishes. Instead, I look forward to enjoyable experiences and remember the happy ones I’ve had, like that September Sunday spent with Tammie in Seattle.