Old letters to grandmother
Some of you with sharp eyes and a curious mind noticed my tray I was using while gobbling up those great meals my friends brought me while I felt puny a few weeks ago. Well, let me just fill you in. This wonderful tray was created one day several years ago when I was in a mood to decoupage everything in sight. Don’t you have days like that?
It’s covered with old letters my mother wrote to her mother when I was just a little girl living in Florala, Alabama and Slidell, Louisiana. Above: “She (me) wore her pink dress and her pink coat (that grandmother sewed for me) . . . . she carried her purse like she’d been carrying one all her life.” – oh, yes. What else did you expect?
The letters are so funny and of course are adorable and charming only to me and my mother.
This excerpt above says, “Leslie Anne is about to drive me crazy. You have to repeat whatever she says and comment on it. I can’t sit down for a minute without her being in my lap saying, “book, book, book” — she thought I wanted her to read to me, but I was trying to tell the woman I was going to grow up and write a book! No one ever listens to me. “Right now, she’s balanced on the arm of this chair saying, ooh-wee at all this pretty writing.” Early art appreciation.
“Leslie Anne is talking up a storm. She has to name everything she sees on TV or in the car, etc . . .”
I think this woman was out to get me — making up things like that to tell my grandmother! I never talked that much. Quiet as a mouse from what I remember. Anyway, isn’t a language-rich environment a sign of a little genius? (say yes).
And just a little note: I was too chicken to actually stick the real letters down, so I used copies and the originals are still in a safe treasure box.
In the background, behind the tray on my coffee table/trunk, is my great-grandmother’s (from Daddy’s side of the family) dough bowl and flowers from the yard. My mother just passed the bowl down to me this year, and I’ve filled it with Christmas ornaments, Mardi Gras beads, Easter eggs and now, just a collection of doo-dads and little guidebooks I love. The spooky dolls’ head is there, just to freak out my son, and . . . do you have Prince Albert in a can? This bowl is always a conversation point with everyone who comes to visit. I’ll probably fill it with seashells in a few weeks for summertime fun.
How will my children ever decoupage my text messages to anything?
Do you have any old letters? Where do you keep them?
How lucky you are to have the letters as they are important part of your story.
We are a family of savers – one step shy of pack rats and not nearly horders but serious “collectors.” Thank goodness!
Oh I love this!!!
My late husband and I spent a good bit of our dating years in different cities. I have all the letters (this was way before cell phones and e mails, obviously) and cards we sent each other. The box they were stored in got a little damp during the flooding of Hurricane Harvey, but none were ruined. My daughters dried them out, and then organized them chronologically for me in a waterproof file box. I am so going to make some copies and decoupage a tray. Perhaps even make a tray for each of the daughters, too.
Thanks for sharing such a wonderful idea!
What a sweet story! I’m so sad letters aren’t being written much at all these days. Your daughters will love a tray, and it’s something I use often, and I’m sure they will too!
One of your best articles!
Thanks Vicki. Sometimes you have to throw in a little arts and crafts! Glad you liked it.
I love the idea of the tray. That was a great idea. I have letters from my dad to my mom while they were dating and he was in the Army. I have often thought I needed to do something creative. They are safely tucked in scrapbooks. You given me food for thought. I got my grandmother’s dough bowl about a year ago. I stood by her side many a day while she made the best biscuits ever!!
Fun post!
The good thing about a tray is you use it all the time, and especially when you are sick in the bed, it is comforting to have sweet letters nearby. So happy you have the family dough bowl.
What a sweet sweet story! Such a creative way to preserve your memories!
Thanks Jenna. Better than a scrapbook for me!
What a clever girl you are … And apparently quite talented from an early age! Alas no letters here, but I do have all my report cards. From 1st grade “Roxanne is a very bright child but talks too much”. Moi?!? I distinctly remember myself as a shy, quiet child, but I did stand in the corner quite a bit! Love your dough bowl filled with precious bits.
How sweet of you to recognize my cleverness — and I send the love back to you, as I admire your talkative report cards! Those would be precious displayed somewhere!
You always inspire me in some way or another. I have a handwritten letter from my great grandmother that is too sweet. I will be framing it tomorrow and hanging it someplace that I can see it everyday.
I’m so glad you still have that letter. You’ll love seeing it every day!