A Sweet Little Message from the Past

I got a Christmas card from Margret. It was signed " with love Margret".

How is it possible to get a Christmas card from my daughter, when she died three years ago?

I was going through a box of Christmas cards left over from other years, partial sets, a little of this a little of that... and found a few that Margret had signed, but not sent.

It made me happy and sad at the same time.

The every day stuff gets easier, but this is only the third Christmas I'm spending without her.This year it isn't like the first Christmas with her gone. The pain of her absence was so much worse then. I wasn't sure at the time how a human being could live through that agony, but living through it IS possible.

I'm gonna be OK over the long haul. The happy memories predominate, the good times come to mind more easily than the sad. I have my husband and my family and you guys; and I have lots more hats to make before I am finished here.

I'm pleased to announce that I donated 17 hat/scarf sets to Valley Youth House in Margret's memory this year. The receptionist admired them, and hoped aloud that I would have time to make them some more for next year.

Hat photos here.

Margret's Crafty Mama - Origami (flapping bird)

When the girls were little, about 4, 6, 8 and 10, I did an Origami Workshop for the children's room at our local library.

We prepared by teaching the Children's Room staff how to make the items we had planned. The girls all helped to show them.

When the participants and their families arrived, and started folding, the girls and the staff helped the workshop go smoothly. I stood at the front of the room, demonstrating with BIG paper, and staff and girls assisted anyone having trouble following the directions.

Here is one of the pieces we folded that day, a box that can be made from any reasonably large rectangle of paper:



And here is another. This one is a favorite of mine, and I have made many many mobiles using this design.