The Event ~ Gifting

I have three very small items (gifts) in my home that I have recently realized bring a smile to my face when I happenstance come face to face with them.  That said, I will elaborate a bit on  "gifting".

We gift to those we love, or friends we are close to, because we are following in the example of our Lord God who loved us so much he gave us His son as a gift to us. 

God gave us the gift of his Son that first Christmas; and people ever since have celebrated Christmas by giving people they love gifts at Christmas.  Even little children get caught up in the spirit of giving gifts to people in their family whom they love.   Children give simply and from their heart with enormous joy. 

OK, that said, back to my original train of thought. . . I have three specific items in my home today that could easily have been tossed out,  added to a garage sale box, or lost in the moves. However, these items have managed to stay the course and resurface from time to time and currently hold not only a safe place in my home, but also a special place in my heart.    They are just 3 crazy little things that have gained a spot of honor among my "treasures".

These items are gifts from my children in their younger years.  Two of the items were carefully selected for me for Christmas by Janel and Alexis when they went shopping with Dad at Western Auto store on main street Bayard years ago ~ they must have been maybe 6 and 4 years old ~ I don't even remember the year. But I do remember how pleased and proud they were of the gifts they each had selected. 

Through the years, they were probably packed away, lost, but always resurfaced.  I think its a miracle that I actually still have them.  Through the years I actually forgot who gave what.  I always remembered the majorette was from one of the girls, but which one?  And the lady pin cushion I had actually forgotten it was gifted at the same time as the majorette.  The majorette is in my display hutch with my Americana collection.  And the pin cushion is kept close at hand and in use in my sewing hutch.  But it wasn't until recently during a conversation with Alexis that she reminded me she gave me the pin cushion and Janel gave me the majorette and that they bought them at Western Auto when they went shopping with Dad.  I have no idea the course of our conversation to cause these items to surface in our discussion.  But her remembrance of the occasion, and jogging my memory has made me cherish these two items immensely.  My two special gifts from my two special girls! 

The third item is a special gift from my son.  The gift hangs on the wall amidst more Americana collections.  It is a counted cross stitch flag ~ an unfinished project ~ that Cash made about 1992-1993 when he was 11-12 years old. 

The country quilt shop had recently opened across the street and he went over and asked Donna Considine, the owner, if there was something he could make for his mom.   The counted cross stitch flag was the end result.  She showed him how, and Cash worked diligently on the project, but in the end didn't finish it, leaving it undone with a row of white stripes to finish.  The needle and white thread remains with the unfinished project.  I just placed the remaining thread in the shape of the USA around the flag and stuck the needle in the fabric.  Then I framed the piece.  It is a gift of Cash's love and diligent handiwork at a young age. 

Through the years I have received numerous gifts from my children and my husband.  Today I can't tell what they were and probably most of them I don't even have anymore.  I do know that they were always given out of love. 

I wish I would have kept a journal from the beginning of our married life noting simple little things like what we did each Christmas, the meaningful gifts we were blessed with, etc.  It would be fun to recollect some of those memories.

My grandfather kept a journal for many, many years.  Just a sentence to note something about each day.  Be it the weather, the amount he sold eggs for that day, the price of something he bought, etc.  I remember reading through some of its pages.  That journal still exists and is kept safely by some family member somewhere. 

It's not that we need to put alot of memory and importance on material possessions, but its the memories and love that are part of certain possessions that make them treasures.    And my pin cushion, my majorette, and my unfinished flag are three treasures that I cherish.  They are not tucked away.  They are placed prominently where I can daily enjoy, see and feel the love that was put into each gift.  They are events in my life, my past.  They are eventful memories.