‘Tis a dreary day, cloudy and still. Last night was cold and some of it has lingered into the morning. Gracie’s coat feels chilly when she comes inside the house. Weekdays are quiet in my neighborhood.

My crayons were kept in a cigar box. The inside top and sides of the box were a panoply of colors. My crayons ranged from full size to barely big enough to hold. I never threw crayons away. I just couldn’t. I’d tear off the paper as they got smaller and smaller and then choose by hue rather than name. Every Christmas we’d find a familiar green and yellow box in our stockings. Nothing but Crayola Crayons would do. Any others were mere imitators. I liked it when the box came with a sharpener. Crayons with points made it easier to stay in the lines. I always thought white was a wasted color. I couldn’t see it on the coloring book page, and I had to run my finger over the spot to feel the crayon marks. The Christmas coloring books always had lots of pages of Santa with his white beard and his red suit trimmed in white, and I’d use my white crayon for the sake of my art.

By the time my Christmas crayons had become mere stubs, I’d get a new box in my Easter basket. Easter coloring books were my favorites. The eggs could be one or even multi-colored. The Easter Rabbit always wore a short jacket and most times I’d color it blue. I think the reason was the Peter Rabbit influence.

The biggest box of Crayola crayons was 64 when I was a kid. It had neat colors like forest green and, one of my personal favorites, raw umber, which no longer exists in a crayon box. Legions of kids will no longer know the color of umber.

I have some sets of crayons. One is a commemorative set of all the colors, including those retired over time. Raw umber is there along with lemon yellow and maize. That box is a keepsake, a piece of my childhood.

For Halloween this year, I am giving out boxes of crayons. I never give out candy; kids get enough of it everywhere else. The box is a small one with just five crayons, but five colors are enough to fill in just about any page in a coloring book.