As a youngster one of the best times of year was when the sleeping bags were taken from their winter storage place and put out for airing, ready for use.  They would have spent the winter months squashed inside some sort of large garbage bag to keep them clean and no matter how long they'd been stored, as soon as they were shaken out of their confined space, the smell of summer would fill the air. 

Our summers were spent having weekends at our family trailer at the beach.  The sleeping bags would smell of a mixture of coconut scented after sun products, and ocean salt.  The coconut smell would even linger after the sleeping bags had been put through the washing machine!

The winter months of not being able to escape to our beach retreat were long and once we saw mom organizing the sleeping bags we knew that it wouldn't be much longer before we could return to the trailer.  We lived for those weekends.  We'd spend our days playing on the sand, paddling in the ocean and, of course, snuggling down into our sleeping bags after a day full of fresh air and laughter.

Often the laughter would be directed at me in an evening.  I hate bugs and my sister had once told me that bugs could crawl into the sleeping bags during the day when they were stored in a cupboard.  So because of this, probably inaccurate comment, each night I would carefully unzip my sleeping bag and check for bugs, much to the amusement of the rest of the family who would already be snuggled down in their sleeping bags!  Even today, despite knowing that the remark was a sister-thing just meant to shake me up, I still shake the sleeping bags belonging to my family before they crawl in!

Although we no longer have the trailer, my little ones have their own sleeping bags which they take to grandma's house when they go on sleepovers.  They think this makes the visit special because they are "camping" - even though the "tent" is actually grandma's guest bedroom!

Sleeping bags aren't just functional; they are a source of childhood memories that last a lifetime!