Ollie Ollie Oxen Free

Today at school I was helping a little boy put on his shoe. I can't even remember why it happened, because we have no Ollies in our class, but I said "Ollie Ollie" and he singsonged "Oxen Free!" in reply.

And while my body was a 41 year old teacher, for a moment I was a kid running through my neighbour's yard, playing hide and seek in the dark, shivers screaming down my spine as I tried to get Home without being tagged. It will surprise zero percent of you to know I was not a fast runner, not good at evading whoever was It. Once they spotted me, I was lost. My only hope was being a good hider, and hope that whoever was It didn't come close enough to hear my asthmatic accordion breathing.  The sweet call of Ollie Ollie Oxen Free was music to my ears.

We had lots of fun and old fashioned phrases in our family, but Ollie Ollie Oxen Free wasn't one of them. That one, we learned in the neighbourhood. Whoever was It would sing it out after they'd caught everyone they could find, and everyone who was still unfound could come Home.

I googled it, and wikipedia says it may be derived from "all ye, all ye, outs in free." Everyone who's still out there gets to come home free - no tags, no loss.

I love kids games. I love how they can be complicated or simple, packed with repetition, and so arbitrary and serious.

This week our kids have had a screen break. They had too much screentime last week, and so we made them entertain themselves elsewhere this week.

This week, they've played a lot of boggle, sequence, and Monopoly. They've made posters, books, calendars, cartoons, lists. They've made snowmen and helped cook and read books and invented games and played Mastermind. Honestly, it's been awesome. They've worn out a brand new pack of markers and are having a hoot together.

I woke up one morning to hear them counting down in unison, Three, Two, One ... and then a cacophony as they each shrieked a colour. If any of them happened to yell the same colour as another player, they won.

Tomorrow, we'll have to play hide and seek so I can teach them to call Ollie Ollie Oxen Free.

Christmas is kind of that same sort of cry. All ye, all ye outs in free! Jesus came for all the outs - not for the healthy, wealthy, and wise. He came to the lame, the poor, the helpless. He came for the wheezy kid who was no good at running, and for the kid who could run but was too shy to play. He came in for all the outs. For those with no home. For those with unsavoury ancestors. For those from small towns in the middle of nowhere (He came for Smiths Falls!). 

He came to invite us all home.

Ollie Ollie Oxen Free!

xo.