CHRISTMAS MEMORIES THROUGH A CHARM BRACELET

For Christmas, when I was a first grader, my parents started a charm bracelet for me.  One of the first charms I received were the scissors -- how did they know I would spend every spare moment in my life sewing with scissors by my side?

On Christmases and birthdays, my folks continued to add charms.

The first Christmas we were married, Bob gave me this Christmas wreath.

On my 24th birthday, we bought our first house and he gave me this charm to go with it!  We spent the whole month refinishing floors, painting, etc. getting the house ready to entertain family for Christmas.

The week before Christmas 1966 we moved, sight unseen, to the wilds of Montana.  It has been the only time in 60 Christmases that it has been just the two of us to celebrate without family around.

Over the years, there have been many more milestones documented on the bracelet --- births of the children, grandchildren, and memorable adventures such as the trip we took to Europe to celebrate our 50th wedding anniversary.

Yes, my life has been charmed.  God has blessed us abundantly.

And, I'm thankful.

Have a joyous Christmas.

I'm joining Ceceila from My Thrift Store Addiction to celebrate a romantic Christmas, a part of Jann Olsen's "Creating Christmas" series.

A CHARMED LIFE

Sally at Smiling Sally is once again hosting Blue Monday where everyone may post about the blue in their life. Be sure to check out Sally's blog for a list of the other participants. You may click on the pictures to enlarge.

When I was five years old, my parents bought me a silver bracelet with a little mailbox on it, as I loved getting mail from my grandmother who lived in another state. I would roll up a tiny piece of paper and put it in my little mailbox and pretend I had received mail that day.

Over the years, I would often receive charms to add to my bracelet from my parents.

As life events happened, silver disks with dates were added such as when Bob and I started going 'steady' in high school, when we got engaged, and then when we married. There are disks for each of our children and grand children with their name and birth date engraved. There is a charm from our college and one from my sorority. Places we have lived and visited are represented. That tiny bit of BLUE on my bracelet is a map of Montana where we lived for five years.

One of my favorites is a little house Bob gave me engraved with Nov. 15, 1962, the date we bought our first house. The newest charms are ones we bought on Portobello Road in London and at the Eiffel Tower in Paris when we were on our 50th wedding anniversary trip. There are now 43 charms on my bracelet.

It really has been a CHARMED life. I'm continuously amazed how joyful and content I feel about my life, and I thank God each day for my blessings.

Sally

P.S.: I'm going to take a little break from blogging to enjoy my charmed life by unplugging. Maybe I'll eat breakfast on the porch instead of in front of the computer or I might even go somewhere without my camera and cell phone! At any rate, please check back in a week or two. I have a post planned about our trip this past weekend to attend the Antiques Roadshow in Denver. What a fun experience that was!! Stay tuned.