Something my Mother-In-Law taught me

When Kevin and I were dating I went to his parents house for the weekend. I barely knew them but I felt incredibly at home. While my mother-in-law was showing me around the house she stopped at this huge china hutch. Instead of china she had tons of porcelin birds in it. She could point at one and say "Kevin gave this to me for Christmas 1992" or this bird is from 1970 when Marvin was in Vietnam. She knew where every bird came from. She knew who gave it to her and what occasion it was for. I was shocked because there were tons of little birds. I asked her how she could remember all these little facts. She said oh I put little stickers on the bottom to remind me where I got each one. I thought that was such a great idea. So I started doing that with the gifts I recieved that Christmas 2002.

Fast-forward to 2009....As I was getting out my Christmas decorations this year I came across some of my favorite holiday spreaders. I love them. When I flipped over the box I gasped. This is what I saw....They were from my Uncle Charlie Peacock Christmas 2002. I am almost 99.99999% sure that my Aunt Sharon purchased these for me, wrapped them, and put Uncle Charlies name on them. But it did not matter. My Uncle Charlie passed away in an accidental drowning in May 2007. I have used those spreaders every year since I got them but I never really took the time look at the back of the box. When I saw my little note I was thankful that I had done this. I was thankful that my mother-in-law taught me this little trick. Immediately I stopped unpacking the decorations and thought about my Uncle, my Aunt Sharon, my cousins & their families. Its not that I don't think of them because they are always in my thoughts and prayers. But seeing this gift made me reflect about times I had with my Uncle Charlie.