On the EIGHTH Day of Christmas, Thursday, December 18, 2014

Being the Baby of the family and the only girl, I probably got more gifts than anyone.  Mother worked SO HARD to be fair and to make sure that she would spend the same amount on each of us and that we would have the same amount of packages to open, but let’s be real…I WAS THEIR Favorite…LOL…

I don’t believe that!  Mother would tell us that she loved BOB the most because He was her first born.  She ALSO loved Brian the most because they waited a long time for him.  She said she loved ME the most because I was her baby girl.  Yes, there is a relationship between a mother and a son, just like there is a special relationship between a daddy and his daughter…I WAS a DADDY’s girl to a fault!

I was telling my friend tonight about finding a piece of OLD wood to paint on and I had better look for more BEFORE the snakes come out again.  A poisonous snake has never been seen on our farm, BUT I have a fear that ONE will get lost or some YOUNG snake whippersnapper will TRY to push the limits~~you know how KIDS can be!  ROFL…I said that I have no idea how Daddy was ever able to walk when I was a child because I was forever grabbing his leg for protection.  I would muster up enough courage to go with him into the hen house, BUT I would be holding onto his leg…I did NOT want to see one of those chicken snakes my MEAN brothers had told me about that would coil up under a chicken and eat the eggs!!  WHEW!!

But back to Christmas stories…I don’t remember a lot of the gifts that I got.  What I remember is being together with my family!  We didn’t have a lot of extra money, but we ALWAYS got plenty.  Many of our gifts were homemade and that is a treasured memory.  I would most every Christmas be sent on a scavenger hunt to FIND what Mother had made me and SELDOM would my present ever be finished…she would work so hard to do so much for so many, that she would just have to wrap up what she was sewing for me and MANY times, I would wrap my own presents…I didn’t mind because I loved to wrap presents.  It became a joke for me to ask WHAT unfinished DRESS I was getting THIS year…she would feel bad, but I thought it was funny…believe me, I NEVER did without and I got WAY more than I deserved!

I guess my favorite Christmas present would be the year I got a diamond ring when I was 21…NO, NOT from some STUPID boy, but from my Parents!  LOL…I’m telling you, IF EVER I kiss the RIGHT FROG, I have all the JEWELRY because I have my Aunt’s engagement/wedding band and Mother’s, AND Aunt Jenny’s too!

I told you that Daddy was raised by his Aunt and Uncle.  Aunt Jenny had always wanted a diamond, and so Daddy bought her one when he was around 21.  It wasn’t big, but it was a keepsake diamond, that is a perfect diamond and was in a pretty setting with hearts on either side.  When Aunt Jenny died, Mother had it put in a ring for Daddy, but he seldom wore it.  

Now, the funny thing to know is that MOTHER was ALWAYS trying to be SNEAKY, BUT she was ALWAYS getting caught!  She bought Daddy a guitar one Christmas ONLY to have him go to the mailbox to retrieve a POSTCARD saying that the guitar was in…AND Mother took my Autoharp to the guitar shop to have it repaired and the broken strings replaced ONLY for me to get the message on the answering machine that it was READY…sigh…Poor Momma!!

The ring was no different.  I had seen the ring in Mother’s jewelry box MANY times, but I never knew the story of it.  One day before Christmas, I caught her with the ring and asked what she was doing!  She told me that she was having it set to give to Brian for Christmas…On Christmas morning, I was so excited, and SOMEHOW Mother had to get this LIE all figured out, so she left a NOTE on the tree for Brian that I THOUGHT told him to go find his gift…he had a really puzzled look as I was SO excited over his NOTE…during all this, Mother, handed me the present that was MEANT for me.  She and Daddy had the ring put back into the original setting that Daddy had given to Aunt Jenny and gave it to ME!  I cried…it is STILL one of my most precious possessions…NOT because of the value, which isn’t THAT much, but because of the STORY…

WOOOOOAA Santa...let's WATCH the HAND!!!

Those are the types of gifts that we got…NOT just THINGS, but MEMORIES…I don’t know how many times I can say this, BUT boy, HOW BLESSED am I!!!

I made this little Santa yesterday and think it turned out really cute and OLD looking.  I copied SANTA CLAUSE IS COMING TO TOWN and reduced the size and used DecoArt’s Decou-page to attach it to the wooden cut-out. I didn’t worry about cutting the paper to size, but instead cut approximately the shape and then SANDED off the edges after it dried. Using Americana Acrylics, I painted the face and the hat.  When everything dried, I used DecoArt’s Staining/Antiquing Medium with Milk Chocolate and I antiqued it!  I LOVED the old world feel it got from that!  MAYBE I will try some ONE STEP CRACKLE to add a bit more interest…

I sure HOPE THIS SANTA has more luck than Mother did at NOT GETTING CAUGHT this Christmas…Don’t worry about the THINGS that you don’t get done…just DO the BEST you can…Make MEMORIES for yourself and for your family and don’t waste money on buying the BIGGEST and BEST of everything…I promise, THAT will NOT be what people remember…Blessings to YOU…~charlotte♥