contrivance -- Dad and Auntie Mary

contrivance

Syllabification: (con·triv·ance)

Pronunciation: /kənˈtrīvəns/

Definition of contrivance

noun

• a thing that is created skillfully and inventively to serve a particular purpose:an assortment of electronic equipment and mechanical contrivances
• the use of skill to bring something about or create something:the requirements of the system, by happy chance and some contrivance, can be summed up in an acronym
• a device, especially in literary or artistic composition, that gives a sense of artificiality
  
  
  Thanks for the definition to http://oxforddictionaries.com/us/definition/american_english/contrivance 
  
  
  Were my father and I born in the Dark Ages, we would still be in the dark, as both of us are more given to naps than contrivances.