Sunday 28 December 2014

Quick update and a question for you.

Hello
Thank you all so much for your good wishes and comments on my last post.
Welcome to Frugal in Essex, Sara and Ist Man on the follower bar and Lisa and Barbara on Blog lovin
 We've had the first proper winter here, with a goodly fall of snow on boxing day and freezing temperatures since, so that the slow is still with us. D. has been quite unwell with a chest infection and a dose of the Christmas lurgy that everyone (apart from me) seems to have this year.. I have been bringing in wood for the fire and the bonus of the snow is that I have bought it to the house from the log pile on a sledge!! I feel like Laura Ingalls Wilder in "The Long Winter".
I won't bore you with a list of the presents I received. I am sure each will make an appearance over the next few weeks in their turn. The present I am playing with today is the sewing machine that my daughters and granddaughter have bought me between them. It's a Brother and can be carried around, Unlike my mother's machine which is set into a table,(I had this machine serviced a year ago and it still isn't  too reliable) I also have my trusty treadle which I love. This new little number does all sorts of things. I suspect that they are also trying to encourage me to to start up a sewing group in the village hall and I would be able to take my new machine along. Crafty of them in more ways than one!
I also won't bore you with a list of the leftovers that I had such fun processing yesterday. Suffice to say that there were plenty and several meals are now in the fridge or freezer to help us through January.

Three old people in the village have died. over the last month and this makes me feel mortal! I have been thinking of what will happen when my time comes. Maudlin I know.
My youngest daughter has taken up sewing again (she is a very good machine sewer) after helping her daughter with my "surprise" quilt (Christmas present) and realised that much of her sewing equipment was missing, When her daughter told me this I started to collect equipment for her and put them in a tin for a Christmas present. One of the items I put in the tin was my mother's thimble . This thimble's value is purely sentimental. I tied a little label  with my mother's name written on it and when YD discovered this she burst into tears. (she and her sister adored my mother)
I have one or two little mementos belonging to my mother and my grand mother (none of which has any monetary value). So my question is this... should I pass these bits and bobs onto my daughters now while I have the pleasure of giving them and passing on the stories that go with them? Or should I leave them as they are and they will find them when the black rabbit has called for me?
 Over to you.
Gillx

PS The hens have started to lay again. Hurrah!



34 comments:

  1. pass them on now and you can reinforce the memories with stories. I have my grand mothers thimble along with a few other things. The best thing about it was that my Mum handed it to me and told me a new story at the same time. I was boring enough to share my gifts, too chuffed not to. As for leftovers, done and dusted and in the freezer.

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    1. I've had a look at your pressies and commented!
      Just looked on facebook and there is a photo of mum's thimble and a comment from daughter saying this is her favourite Christmas present. I suppose you were as pleased with yours.

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  2. Hoping everyone will soon be well and hearty again.
    Laura would be proud! (grin)
    How great that you have a new machine, a true blessing!
    A pull and tug about the gifts....,,,
    When my mom was still alive she gifted me and several of the others with various things. A much better way I think, but she did not want everyone to know what had been given, when , and to whom. After she passed there were accusations and some hard feelings when things were not found. These were sentimental things, not of great monetary value. It might be best to gift them now, but let it be known, so no anxiety later. However, if the items are desired by more than one child, you might need to shuffle the mix around, so no hurt feelings arise. blessings in the New Year to come!

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    1. My mom gave me several things before she died, that she did not want my sister in laws to have, and made me swear I would not tell anyone I had them!

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    2. My great aunt did something similar. She had put the names of her neices and nephews into individual pieces of china (She was a gilder for Derby Crown China) when she died, some of the labels were missing and some pieces had already disappeared.

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    3. D. is still struggling with his chest and had to go to the doctors today for more antibiotics. Everyone else seems to be improving though.

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  3. Hope the lurgy goes quickly. I would pass them on now too, my Mum and I had a lovely chat on Christmas Day evening about my Grandma and Christmas memories all prompted by the Spode Christmas Tree plate that once belonged to her, then my Mum and now me. I always use it for Christmas cake on the big day.
    Twiggy

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    1. We were looking at my mum's celery bowl and "pickle jar" on Christmas day. They came out every time we had folk for Sunday tea and of course at Christmas.

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  4. I agree - pass on the items now - with stories to reinforce their family value.

    I, too, am aware of my mortality and dwindling years. Morbid - but real :)

    Snow - please happily shovel some my way... :D

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    1. No more snow has fallen, but that that did fall remains as it has not gone above freezing yet. It still looks pretty, the down side being the frozen water buckets!

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  5. It seems a concensus that you pasa on the heirlooms now. When my Mum died I got her wedding ring, which was also,her Mum's. My daughter got married 18 months ago and her wedding ring was a complete circle of diamonds. Very beautiful, but not very practical for work. She didn't just want to wear her engagement ring to work, so I gave her my Mum's ring. She would have got it eventually anyway, but as has been said, with me there to tell the stories behind it, it means that much more to her. It brings me joy to see her wear it, and I know my Mum would be happy. A win win around!

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    1. How lovely!
      My eldest daughter already has my grandmother's ring and had a copy made for my younger daughters daughter for her 18th birthday.

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  6. I would pass on the stories and the items now. The richest part of any family is those items with no monetary value but the stories are priceless. However I also agree that a letter or note documenting where other items went could be attached to your Will to save any unpleasantness . The stories reinforce the sentiments of such pieces and give them a new importance. I have several items from my grandmother's home together with the stories. My nephews cannot remember their great grandparents and if anything happens to me the stories are written down together with a copy of the Family tree which I have been researching so that they know where they come from. The snow always looks wonderful we have had some but it has not settled. What a lovely thing to do for your daughter. Take care Pattypan x

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    1. With my sister I started a sort of "life story" which has stalled so I should really crack on with that.
      Aren't we lucky though to have memories and stories to pass on and someone to pass them on to?

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  7. I would pass anything you are not using, now. I found things in my mother's house that I wish I could ask her about....too late...
    My hens have not laid for months...I hate buying eggs with 8 hens!
    I got a small Bernina, years ago, to take when I go to classes..it is wonderful to have a small machine to carry, and I use it at home much of the time, too....

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    1. I often think "I must ask mum that" and realise that it is many years since I was able to do so.
      I'm thrilled about the eggs. I have over 40 hens and was beginning to wonder if there would ever be any eggs. I know if I bought hybrids each year I would have a more reliable production, but I do love my mix of different breeds.

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  8. No, you must tell them about things. I have loads of semi-valuable 'stuff' in lofts back in England, and I'm terrified that someone will just chuck it all out without thinking.

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    1. A loft visit might be called for methinks. I'm always surprised at what the younger generation holds as "rubbish"

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  9. Glad your hens are laying again.
    I would pass them along now so you can tell them the stories directly (maybe write them down too) and you can see them enjoying and treasuring them.

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    1. Thanks.
      See above. I will definitely have to start writing things down won't I?

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  10. My dad passed on to me a bracelet that has been in his family for 3 generations. He also didn't want it going into the wrong hands. He told me the history of it but I will ask again and write it down and keep them together. So my suggestion is whatever you decide write the stories in a little book and then pass them on and then more stories can be added.
    Carolx

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    1. What a treasure that bracelet must be and if your dad knows its history so much the better.
      Yes I will start writing things down.

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  11. Interesting question Frugal. I often look at my treasures - as you say, of little or no monetary value - which mean such a lot to me because of their various memories. Then I think that when I die they will have no 'sentimental' meaning to anyone. I have no daughter, and apart from my buddha (which my son adores) he is not likely to want my mothers cameo (of little or no value), or her thimble. So all these memories die with me - I expect it is the same for most people.

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    1. Do you have a daughter-in-law? My sister has sons who are married and who have daughters and I think she is hoping to leave her jewelry to them. You mentioning the cameo reminds me that my grandmother had one (not valuable) and I haven't seen it since mum died. I hope my sister has it and it is not lost.

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  12. Always tell the memories and stories. They are the connection with our roots and our ancestors. A part of who we are.

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    1. Indeed they are and how lucky we are to have those roots and to know them.

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  13. I would also say now, you'll get the pleasure of giving and seeing the items used x

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    1. I suppose they will have to be smaller items as I don't wants the girls to see anything as "clutter"
      I certainly had pleasure seeing my younger girls reaction to her little gift.

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  14. I think everyone else has already said it all! I have to agree now with the stories is a much better option. x

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  15. Well, perhaps a little of both! Some things now because you will get pleasure and they can ask questions, but also perhaps leave some for after your demise. After my mother died I felt absolutely bereft, and it came as a huge surprise and a great solace, to find little notes from her to me left inside various family bits and pieces. Just when I thought I would never hear from her again, I found her notes to me. I cannot begin to tell you what a comfort they were to me.

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  16. If I don't get the chance
    Happy new year to you
    Jxxxx

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  17. Hurray for the chickens!

    My grandmother gave me my her mother's thimble when I was a young woman. I loved sewing and quilting she thought of all the granddaughters I should have it. I absolutely treasure that thimble, and even have a few memories of seeing my great-grandmother using it as she hand sewed her quilts.

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