Twenty-Five Days of Heartwarming Memories #7

Quilt by TQS Member MaryRinWI - Share your holiday quilts with us HERE!

I remember one Christmas growing up that was my favorite! I was ~ 7 years old, and my little brothers were 6 and 3. My parents pulled the family together during the autumn months and told us that it would be a "special" Christmas and each of us would be working with one of my parents and making each others very special Christmas presents that year.

Over the next couple months, I worked with my Mom and made my brother Matt a magician's black hat. (He was an aspiring magician at 5 years old!!!) The hat had secret pockets inside and was made with an empty gallon container that had once held ice cream, a sturdy cardboard brim and all covered in black polyester.

Both of my brothers worked with my Dad and made me a two story doll house - ALL handmade, cut from wood, including a stairway to the second floor, a Christmas bulb coming out of the ceiling for lighting in each room, a carved fireplace in the living room, and even pictures on the walls. I so enjoyed the process of making the gift for my brother, and that doll house was my favorite gift of all time. And the ANTICIPATION over those fall months knowing what I was making for my brother and wondering what was in store for me. WOW!

It wasn't until decades later that my parents told us that money was so tight that year, that they were not sure how the bills could be paid if they did not take "drastic measures".....and that's why is was a "homemade" Christmas...... What an incredible gift that year of financial hardship was..... it gave me my favorite Christmas memories! - Mary Kay Runyan from St. Paul, MN

Daily Blog