Sleeping Babes

On Friday Aaron's mum, Leena, showed up with a load of stuff that had been given to her for me by a woman named Elinor, who was Aaron's childhood piano teacher. Elinor is getting on in years and is moving to an assisted living complex, so she's had to clean out her house and give away many of her things. I won't go into detail on the other things she gave us -- they are far too deserving of their own posts. But, among the treasures were these two little angel ornaments. They're plastic and date back to the early '50s, when Elinor would have been a child. Elinor's mother would put the unbreakable ornaments near the bottom of the tree so the children could play with them. Elinor wanted Ruby to have them, so they're now proudly displayed on the lower branches of our tree and will reappear there every year until Ruby has a home and a tree of her own.



Speaking of Christmas traditions, which is happily a hot topic among all the craft bloggers, we're starting a new one for Ruby this year. When I was a kid, one of the families in our neighbourhood had a tradition of allowing their two children, Heather and Rick, to open one present on Christmas Eve before they got ready for bed. Every year they'd be so excited for that one present -- which would always, without fail, be a new pair of pajamas to wear to bed that night. The thing is, while everyone else in the world new that the early gift was going to be PJs, Heather and Rick were always surprised and always delighted to find their fresh night clothes under the tree. They loved it. So, this year, and every year that she lives under my roof, Santa will give Ruby a new pair of jammies on Christmas Eve to keep her warm.

Got any traditions you'd like to share? Bring 'em on!