A Christmas Card, a Sweet Little Boy... and the Tale of the Turkey Gobbler

How is everyone tonight? Elbow-deep in dough? Turkey defrosting in the fridge? Pies lining up on the counter? That's how it is at my house--yours too, I bet!

Just a few things for you tonight...my daughters have friends over again for a sleep-over...no school tomorrow, so of course there HAS to be a sleep-over, right?!

This week at Splitcoast, Marcy is hosting the Crafty Secrets challenge, and the challenge this week was to make a card that has something to do with music--inspired by a song, a musical image...you get the idea! Here's what I came up with:

I love this image from Crafty Secrets' "Christmas" Images & Journal Notes booklet--as you may already know, I'm a history lover, and this beautiful picture with old-fashioned costumes just makes me happy!

Used a healthy dose of gold German glass glitter today--was pretty much wearing it, too! My daughter was wiping tiny golden pieces of it off my cheek at the grocery store hours later...oh, well...at least I was sparkling! (Much better than feeling something creeping on my face yesterday just after I walked into Target--it was a giant ladybug--in November! Good luck for me, right?!)

A little closer shot of on of my snowflakes...decided to be different and used one of the red SU! felt snowflakes this time---it looks much better than this in real life--doesn't everything? The red adds a lot of great depth to the glitter--very pretty! Did 3 coats of glue/glitter for these--nice and thick and sparkly!

I have a beautiful vintage postcard to share with you tonight--I purchased this at an antiques shop a few years ago when I was starting my vintage postcard collection...I'll share them with you every once in a while...got some real beauties!

This postcard reminds me of a funny little story....now, if you've been visiting me much, you know I love family history, and I also love to tie in old family stories whenever they fit...so here's another one...short and sweet...

My dear Grandad--Dow Ostlund--has been gone now for...gosh, about 17 years...doesn't seem possible. He was the kind of Grandad that always had spare change for you in his pocket, always a big smile, a warm hug just for you, and the biggest twinkle in his eye...!

Grandad had Parkinson's Disease later in life, so his last years were very different. The twinkle wasn't there as much, and he couldn't speak very well. Before it got too bad, however, I sat down and asked him questions about his childhood--anything he could remember. I wrote fast, and took down just about every word he said--got about 3 pages of priceless stories.

The longer he talked to me, remembering his childhood, some of the old sparkle came back to those beautiful blue eyes of his, and he actually started looking like the impish little boy I'd seen in photographs...

...and here's one of the first stories he told me...

"One year, they (his grandfather) had a turkey gobbler who was mad at me, and I would stand at the door of the outside vestibule (of the house)...and yell, 'The turkey gobbler is a devil!'...and when I would go out and not see him, he would (run at me), get me down and peck at my eyes until someone came along and rescued me! I was 7 or 8 then..."

I can't prepare a turkey without thinking in my head, "The turkey gobbler is a devil!" ...makes me giggle while I fix the old bird!

Thanks for listening to me ramble tonight...sometimes the past comes for a visit and just wants to stay for a while...

Sweet dreams!