My favorite Christmas gift...

I have been meaning to blog about this for a while now, and decided I better hurry up and get it done or it just wouldn't happen. The problem is, I just don't even know where to begin. I'll start by saying I'm the luckiest girl in the world. My parents came from two amazing families. Very large families by today's standards. My dad was the oldest of 11 children, my mom the 3rd of 6. Most of the family stuck around, rather than moving off to opposite ends of the country. I grew up surrounded by cousins, which I loved. Since I had no sisters of my own, my cousins became my sisters and best friends. My aunts were like second moms, and my grandpa's were my second dads, especially after my dad died. We always headed to grandma and grandpa's house on Sunday nights. It was like a party every Sunday night. Mishelle, Heather and I would lock ourselves in Uncle Tom's old room and talk about friends, boys, and catch up on any gossip or even make up some of our own :) At some point in the day all the grandkids would go outside and play capture the flag or no bears are out tonight. Even once I'd graduated from high school, if I didn't show up at their house on Sunday night, I got a phone call from Grandpa, he just wanted to make sure I was doing OK. I don't have very many childhood memories that don't have something to do with cousins or grandparents.

Leading up to Christmas, my aunt Lorrie's blog contained hints from Grandma as to what this year's gift to the grandkids would be. For weeks we were all trying to guess what in the world Grandma was up to. Here is one of the clues...

Clue #7 "Keep thinking Memories."In his little brown bag he always carried an extra shirt, his medicine, black licorice & Duct Tape. There wasn't anything he couldn't fix with duct tape!Love, Grandma Cox

On Christmas night, we all gathered at my mom's for our usual party and white elephant gift exchange. My mom has a pretty large home, and it was bursting at the seams. I love every minute of it. Good food, good people. Good times. After the highly entertaining gift exchange, Grandma gathered all of the grandkids in a circle, and gave an explanation of our gift. She had been going through that little brown bag (in the clue) recently, cleaning it out, and came across several of these.

Bicentennial silver dollars. Grandpa had collected them, and now it was time to pass them on to his grandchildren. Most of us were in tears as she spoke of him and how important his granchildren were to him. He had a way of making each of us feel special, and there were 30 grandkids! This was my favorite Christmas gift this year, it's something I will keep for the rest of my life. It will not only remind me of my Grandpa, but also the things he stood for, the kind of person he was. All of my grandparents have set amazing examples for me. They are/were hard working, honest people, and I strive to be even a fraction of the person each of them are. I love each of them so very much and feel so blessed to be a part of the family that I have.