Monday, December 12, 2011

"Close Your Eyes"

The best traditions start organically...on their own...before you even know that's what you're doing...

My thrift shopping is out of control. It's my comfort zone...my treasure hunt...my therapy...I do it every week. It is an addiction I refuse to apologize for. As you well know, when Lillian was born -- she became my mission. I love, love, love shopping for her...

And, since I would never dream of gift-wrapping 25 thrift-gifts -- I always say the same thing when I'm showing her the latest treasure...."close your eyes"...and, since she was a baby, she'd actually DO THAT...waiting for Grandma Rita's big TA DA MOMENT...when I say, "OPEN YOUR EYES, LILLY"...

Of course, being delighted to shop for a girl -- I love to shop for various zebra striped outfits -- many of her TA DA moments are about clothes...

But -- whatever she was "into" at any given moment ended up a "close your eyes" moment as well -- in this case -- dinosaurs....

ALWAYS, always, always, back to clothes, tho...

Emily & Lillian came down to Iowa for Disney on Ice. On their way back to Wisconsin (they'd stayed at the other Grandma's house) -- they stopped by my house to say Good-Bye. As we walked into the house, she said to me, "Close my eyes, Grandma?"

OF COURSE, LILLIAN....and there just happened to be a mountain of treasure waiting for her. The thing she was most delighted about was a Santa Claus coverlet for her room. There were also several velvet dresses....another silver pair of shoes...a Fisher Price nativity...a little set of 12 Christmas board books...well, you get the idea.

This time -- there were also some gifts for her to take back to Daddy in Wisconsin. He's got some time off -- so I sent him a Christmas coverlet, and a few jigsaw puzzles.

She was more excited about GIVING these gifts to her Daddy than she was about receiving things for herself -- and she talked about it all the way home (4 hour drive.)

Emily reported that Lilly grabbed the bag with the Daddy gifts, dragged it into the house and said, "Daddy -- close your eyes"...

1 comment:

  1. Thrift shopping for kids is fabulous. But the best place I ever saw was in Utah. Kids are king there so the thrift shops had FANTASTIC stuff. If I lived there & had a small child, I don't think I'd ever buy new. :)

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