Holidays

Adding to the past posts about Mother’s Day & Father’s Day, and The Fourth of July, Birthdays are personal holidays deserving recognition. Therefore, today’s post is about my birthday. HAPPY BIRTHDAY, LIZ!

So what does a birthday have to do with a family museum? Everything! Such as? You may ask. The place to save and display all the gifts, keepsakes, cards and such that you and your family members have received for their birthdays.

Perusing our museum, I was amiss at finding out that there were not many things saved from my past birthdays. I couldn’t even begin to recall the gifts I received from only a few years ago, nevertheless 40 years ago. However, there were all those greeting cards saved, so I took out my card box and picked out a few.

 

 

 Sadly, there were no cards saved from my childhood.   

The oldest card was from my parents given to me 44 years ago. I turned twenty that year, was a new bride and mother. I guess that was enough to garner a card-full of emotional sentiment.

Two cards from my daughter, Tiffeni. The tiger card was dated 1993 telling me that I was one terrific tiger and a note about a trip to Chicago. The card with the cat in the glass dated 2000 had a really great quote. “Age is a matter of mind. If you don’t mind, it doesn’t matter!” The card with the cat licking her chops was from a dear friend who shares my Chinese zodiac sign. What I find most interesting about these cards is their common denominator . . . CATS! It’s really great to know that my friends and family see me the same way. Hmmmmm.

As for birthday gifts, every birthday from ages 10 to 14, I received a Barbie doll or clothes. I had amassed quite a collection by time I became of that age when I was told to put my dolls away. And away they went for 50 years. Can you believe that!

A piece of jewelry was always a gift. What was saved I gathered and displayed in a shadow box along with other miscellaneous bubbles. The shadow box is available at http://www.michaels.com. The blue rhinestone ballerina was one of my favorite pins. I wore it often. The baby bracelet with charms spelling out my birthday month of July and a baby ring of a duck I can’t recall wearing them nor how they even got saved. The other pieces I will explain later. They all have their own stories to tell.   

So, today is my birthday. I will spending it with hubby Keith, Tiffeni & Charlie. There are many presents on the dining room table waiting for me to open. And you can be assured that I will save them all and put them in our family museum.

 

Note: The birthday cake art piece is compliments of Google. Thank you Google.

 

 

 

 

Thanks for the Memories - Father's Day

Father's Day was founded in Spokane, Washington at the YMCA in 1910 by Sonora Smart Dodd. Its first celebration was on June 19, 1910. Her father, the Civil War veteran William Jackson Smart, was a single parent who raised his six children.

It’s always good to know a little about the origins of our family holidays. Many a deserving father receives cards and gifts on this day, as well he should. Just like mom, he works hard to provide for his family and deserves to be appreciated.

My recollections of celebrating this day with my dad are some for the fondest ones I have.  I followed him where ever he went; out in the garage or down in the basement. While he built our house, we would have our lunch together sitting on top of the roof. That drove my mom crazy. But I was never afraid when I was with my dad. What I remember most was how challenging it was to find a gift for him. He was a hard-working man, always toiling away at something. If it wasn’t his job as a machinist, his hands always oily and greasy, he was working on building our house or working in the garden. His only past time was reading the newspaper and he cherished this time when he could just sit and read. He also loved cigars and that was the one thing he always received for every special occasion. I still have one of his cigar boxes.

Keith remembers how his pop would play with him and when he became a dad, he did the same with his kids.

After I was married, Father’s Day had a new focus. The first year we were married, Keith became a father. We still shared the day with our dads, but now things were different. I still bought mine his box of cigars and Keith gave his father a new fishing pole.

But the day seemed different.

We had our baby Tiffeni and we celebrated Father’s Day feeling quite overwhelmed with the challenges that awaited us both.

For the next seventeen years, Tiffeni and Keith were inseparable. They did everything together and were liked kindred spirits. She loved being with her papa when he was building our house, she like playing down in the basement or out in the garage. (Sound familiar?) Wherever he was, she was. When we moved to Florida they went to baseball games together he taught her how to grow a garden. They shared their love for history, architecture, and adventure. Every Father’s Day she presented him with cards and gifts, and as she got older, she wrote philosophical thoughts reflecting on her love for her him.

Two months after Tiffeni turned seventeen, she got a baby brother, Charlie. Never did we think that another child would come into our lives. And boy! Did our lives change. This bouncy baby boy fulfilled so many wishes for all of us. 

Tiffeni was in her last year of high school when Charlie was born. The next year she would be off to college. Keith and my plans change dramatically. But that was OK. We both enjoyed another childhood. Charlie became papa’s little boy and they, too, became inseparable.  

Pictures and stories should be recalled during Mother’s & Father’s Days. What makes these memories even better are the greeting cards. Look back at the April 21 posting about what to do with old greeting cards. The advice there puts the monumental task of organizing kept cards into manageable projects that will help you manage and keep your memories alive. When I found the box of the hundreds of cards I saved over the decades, it was a formidable task sorting them out. I can’t tell you how many I threw out and saved for a contribution to St. Jude’s recycling program. But once I started to organize them, every card was a trip down memory lane. Here are a few Father’s Day cards from the kids and even one from me.

 Tiffeni was the first born. When Tif was old enough to pick out her own cards, she selected ones that reflected some their activities they shared, like gardening, and fun and quite times she cherished with her papa.

Charlie loved to draw in the cards he gave his papa. Especially ships. Keith would ask Charlie, “Who’s my favorite boy”? Even now, and this year Charlie turned 27, Keith still refers to Charlie as his favorite boy. Very endearing!

           The one card I love very much was how even at a young age, Charlie understood his father’s challenging times, and his Father’s day card that year offered him words of encouragement.

This card was the first one from me for Keith’s first Father’s Day, dated June 9, 1970, about six weeks after Tiffeni was born. Inside it said, "Ours has been a heir raising experience!

This Sunday is Father’s Day and Keith will be given more cards.  I will save these, too, and put them in his memory box. And if and when a day should come when memories are more cherished than ever, he can look back and read all of his cards and enjoy the life he gave and shared with his children. Happy Father’s Day!

Have a great weekend.    

Next Post: Here comes the Bride!

 

 

Thanks for the Memeories - Greeting Cards

Greeting Cards for Mom/Daughter/Sister/Wife/Friend . . .

How many days and reasons are there to give that special (see above) person
a greeting card?

Let us count them according to that great little Hallmark Cards Datebook:
for January through December Birthdays; for Valentine’s Day; for Easter;
Mother’s Day; and all other holidays you celebrate.
 

 Birthday Card & Letter from
 my sweet Mother-in-Law

1970 Birthday Card
from a Friend

For the hundreds of cards I have received over the past sixty decades, most likely hundreds of those cards have gone by the wayside. I can’t remember exactly when I started to save cards; perhaps it was after I got married and became a mom. All of a sudden (not literally) those cards seemed important to me. Here are a few that I want to share with you.   




1999 Birthday card from
my adorable son Charlie 

    What cards have you 
    saved over the years?
    And why have you
    kept them?    

    Probably for the same reason
    I have; they make me smile.
   
   Remember the good times.


2003 Birthday card from my
lovely daughter Tiffeni

   Cherish the memories.


                                         
      There are many creative ideas as to what to do with
        greeting cards. By simply surfing the web, the
      information there can be overwhelming.

     To make your research a little bit easier, I recommend 
       visiting these two websites:               
       www.wikihow.com
      “Putting old greeting cards to use”
      www.google.com 
     “What to do with old greeting cards.”

Also, check out Google Images to see a plethora of ideas on what to do with old greeting cards. It's amazing!


Next Post:  Scrapbooks






 

                                                                       

 

 

 

Thanks for the Memories . . .

Hello again. I have been on a brief hiatus due to the fact that I had to get a new computer.
Having said this, on with the show. And thanks for being patient. I appreciate it.

                                                                   Thinking of You

Oh, the memories! With each and every card I opened, a flood of recollections hit me like a 'ton of bricks.' Some of those bricks were still whole, others sadly reduced to chucks, and others into dust. Most of them brought a smile to my face, others made me laugh, but for those whose once truthful words of congratulations, support, and love that had turned to sand, I shook my head in despair. Then I asked my self, do I hold onto these cards and letters that make me sad or shred and trash them? At the time I wrote this I had no answer. So I put the cards away and thought about what to do later. Later came and here is what I did.

I organized them.

First I separated the cards by subject matter. Then by person to whom the card went to. Then once again into groups; birthday wishes, holidays, etc. Then by chronological order. Time consuming - you bet. Sometimes I did this sorting at the same time watching TV, which made the task less daunting. After that, I went back through the cards and kept some and discarded others. At times my heartstrings played a melancholy tune, but most of the time I enjoyed reading the cards again.

 

Why, you may ask, should you do all this work? Because it gives you the opportunity to revisit that moment in time and surprisingly enough, will make you smile, even giggle a bit. But for those negative memories I mentioned above, do not hesitate to throw away those cards. There is no conceivable reason why you should have to grin and bear something sad that happened a time ago. It’s over, move on. At first it was hard for me to do, but as I felt my heart get lighter I knew I was doing something good for me, and eventually the family. So will you.
 

Next, I found a pretty box, sometime more then one per person; husband/dad, wife/mom, children, son/daughter, sibling(s)-brother/sister, and other family (parents/grandparents/relatives) and friends. Then I put a bow around each box and gave each family member their “Card Box” as a Christmas gift. You can’t imagine the surprised look on their faces when they opened the box and found their old greeting cards, along with other memento, for example, photos, drawings and other keepsakes.
 

As they opened their boxes, I heard, “What’s this? Cards from Papa?” “You mean you saved them?” “Oh my goodness! I remember this card.” “Gee, thanks Sis for thinking about me.” “Honey, I love you more today than yesterday, and I believe you still do,” said my husband has his eyes glistened with happy tears.

Get the picture!

So with this introduction, I will share with you some of my stories and images of the cards I saved. Then perhaps they will inspire you to do the same.

Next Post: This post is an introduction to this weeks posts on Greeting Cards.
                  As you know there are many categories of cards, and I will focus
                  on them, sharing with you thoughts, ideas and pictures.