Home again...

We made it home late Saturday from Texas. My grandmothers funeral was simply beautiful. I had planned to stay with my mom and not come home till sometime this week, but decided to head back home around noon on Saturday. I will be going back next week to help go through some of my grandmothers things. What a collector she was! When we opened the doors to one of the storage buildings in her back yard, we got a surprise! Hundreds, and I mean HUNDREDS of porcelain dolls and thousands of S&P shakers were in there also. At this time we know that there are over 10,000 sets of S&P shakers. (No that's not a typo...I meant to type 10,000 sets.) We knew she was a collector, we had seen all the things she had in her home on a regular basis, but what we didn't know was that she never threw anything out! We knew there were collections in the three buildings in the back yard, we just didn't know how much.

I brought home a lot of the chef S&P shaker sets for my cabinet in my kitchen that has all my chef collections. I found several of them that my grandfather brought home from Germany when they first married 67 years ago. I also got their wedding china. I have looked at it a hundred times and cried and cried to think that I have something so precious. When my aunt Pam told me to pack up my grandmothers wedding china I couldn't stop crying or smiling. I never thought I'd get something as precious as that. I also got my great grandmothers china...it's missing a few pieces, but I wouldn't trade it for anything!

As if that wasn't enough, as I was walking out the door, my aunt handed me their family Bible. WOW...all the writings and memories and pictures that were inside! It now has a special home in a curio cabinet in my husbands office. The curio cabinet in my husbands office was hand made by his grandfather and given to him for his office when we moved here. These are some priceless items and we get to enjoy them every day since we spend so much time at the church and in the office. I can't help but smile when I look at that cabinet. I place several other items that were given to us of my grandparents and his in it, so we'd have some special memories.

I have been told that I can have anything in the house and storage buildings I want, because there is simply so much stuff that they just don't know what to do with it all. I told my husband that I now know where I get all my 'collecting' genes from. Actually, I knew it all along. I remember admiring all my grandmothers collections as a kid, and thinking someday that I would have collections too when I got married. I remember many times when she would come to my house for something, and her saying, "Carolyn, honey, you come by this collecting honestly. I love collecting stuff. You get this from me cause your momma sure don't have it in her."

Grandma...you would be proud of the way your collectibles look in my home...you'd be so proud! I'm running out of room to put them, but that's okay because we're about to move into a much bigger house, so I'll put them up till then and when I bring them out in the new place I'll be able to smile and reminisce about you yet again.

Oh, and that candy dish that I used to always sneak candy out of...yeah, I got it too! I know you'll be looking down and smiling the first time Landon sneaks a piece of candy from it.