I miss buying new clothes for the assembly! Mom would take us shopping and then we'd strut around in our new hats and flirt with all the cute boys. Oh man, the assemblies were one giant fashion show. And when I was really young, at the circuit assembly, they actually had people cooking the food during the sessions, you could smell it when you went out into the hallway. The food was great. They must have decided that cost too much because they quickly switched over to the horrible plastic-wrapped turkey sandwiches and Shasta soda. I was always jealous of my friends who got to work in the kitchen. They'd walk around with their clear plastic gloves and aprons on, showing off.
Sure, the talks were long and boring, but I would spend the whole time staring down that cute boy from some other congregation or drawing in my notepad. God bless whoever made it acceptable to give a pen and paper to a child!
After the assembly, we'd get a couple of families together and all go out for Chinese food. Looking like idiots with our nametags on, praying before the meal, even though we never normally did. There will never again be anything in my life that will equal the excitement, and the new hats, I got from a district assembly as a child.