Special memories

I had forgotten about this event until my granddaughter Elizabeth posted it on Facebook.

It all began when my son and I went to an estate sale a few months before Christmas.
My eyes were immediately drawn to a table full of vintage hats and in one of those brilliant flashes I so seldom get, a voice began whispering in my head, "Christmas presents, Christmas presents". The prices ranged from two dollars a hat to five dollars for the ones with feathers and veils.

It was late in the afternoon and few people were still there, so I approached the salesperson running the sale and asked, "Would you sell all the old hats for $5.00?"
"It's a deal", she sighed, probably thinking I was crazy for wanting them.

I was now on a mission and pursued it with a passion. Garage sales were perfect places to purchase prom and bridesmaid dresses, some as cheap as two dollars. junk jewelry, white gloves, some full-length gloves and even a cheap wedding gown to go with two others I had acquired, along with a veil.

Working furiously, I cut off hems, using the cut-off material for capes and sewed the hems of the dress-ups so they wouldn't drag on the floor, visited the dollar store for earrings and more jewelry, collected my old high heels and was almost ready for Christmas. I bought under-the-bed boxes for the five girls and tissue-wrapped three outfits apiece, complete with white gloves, necklaces, earrings and high heels and those vintage hats, Christmas-wrapped their boxes and then . . . the doubts set in. Would they think it was a dumb present, as that was all they were going to get from me?

Well, when they opened their boxes, the squeals of delight made the boys look on in envy and I wished I had done the same for the younger boys. The entire week everyone was here, all we heard was the clopping of heels and no sight of them until they were forced to come down to eat dinner. It was the most memorable Christmas present they ever got and if you asked them about their favorite present, they would always say, "Oh, the year Grandma made us those outfits".

Second Weddings are more fun

I had the pleasure of attending my son's second marriage to his wife of 25 years at the church they attend, as they renewed their wedding vows. It was a big surprise to Karen, as she had no idea he planned to do this. His best man was there as was Karen's maid of honor.

At the appropriate time, Greg asked everyone to go to the chapel and turned to Karen, held up a bread wrapper twisted into the shape of a ring and announced to one and all, "This is the original ring I gave to Karen when I first proposed".

This was my son who always seemed to be a real Red Neck, arguing about anything and everything, just to get his dad riled up. He was a real character. Somehow, he grew up and became a caring, loving individual, planning this charming ceremony for his wife.

Their first wedding was not as charming as this one, since he fainted while getting married the first time. We watched in horror as we saw his legs start to wobble and he turned deadly white. Just as I turned to tell my husband, "watch Greg, I think he's going to fall", down he went, out cold, and was carried off the altar while Karen looked on aghast. Ten minutes later, he was back and the wedding ceremony proceeded as usual.

You can imagine all the comments at his twenty-fifth exchange of vows. Being an old pro by now, he breezed through this one. I think everyone who has been married that long should have a "renewal of vows" party. I wish Ed and I had done the same thing, but we did have a fantastic twenty-fifth surprise party thrown by my kids.

Spring cleaning the easy way - Who Knew?

I am one lucky Grandma. My Grand-daughter Katie was kind enough to offer to come over to help me by cleaning my room. It was an amazing transformation, which took two days to accomplish. I swear, I never knew I could accumulate so much junk.

Along with the junk, there was a thick coating of dust over everything she touched. My bookcase is now lighter by twenty-four books and two inches of dust. Poor Katie was sneezing constantly. The second day, the windows were opened wide immediately. She's a quick learner, that one. After hanging some pictures and rearranging some things, my bedroom now looks like a Better Homes and Garden room.

Today, she came over to clean out the stuff under my bed, as I'm getting a new box spring Tuesday. Yikes! Two massive under-the-bed boxes filled with summer clothes and three boxes of pictures later, my room is now spic and span.

If I can get her over here for another few days, I can probably coerce her into doing my whole downstairs.