rum⋅pus  /ˈrʌmpəs/  [ruhm-puhs] noun, plural -pus⋅es.

1. a noisy or violent disturbance; commotion; uproar: There was a terrible rumpus going on upstairs. 2. a heated controversy: a rumpus over the school-bond issue.

Of course everyone knows that quote from Where the Wild Things Are.  Then I found the word again in Evelyn Waugh’s Put Out More Flags and remembered that when we were kids we called the basement, the rumpus room.

I love the way wikipedia describes it… “Often children and teenagers will entertain their friends in the rec (rumpus) room, which is often located in the basement, away from the main living areas of the house.

I think all homes need a rumpus room.  Somewhere that things can get bounced on, thrown about, lounged on.  Our entire house is really that way.  We decided long ago that as long as we had kids we wouldn’t have nice furniture or “things”.  Dishes get broken, lamps toppled, but as long as it’s all in fun, it’s all good.  Our house looks lived in.  It looks comfortable.  Some days the clutter and mess drive me crazy, but most days I’m fine with it.  In fact, we don’t even have a living room, just a really large dining room.

Our whole house is a rumpus.  yay!