Following in Mom's footsteps....

My mom did a lot of amazing things for her family even when things were tight financially she found a way to make things happen.  I remember when my Dad made my hope chest as a teenager my mother giving me things at Christmas and other holiday's to go in my hope chest,  The first year after I got my hope chest she gave me a full set of china with serving pieces and everything!  I loved it and even though I didn't get to pick it out it was perfect and I was thrilled!!  It wasn't until later that I found out that she had saved stamps at the local grocery store to get the china for me!  I didn't care and in fact I probably was more impressed that she got it for me at no cost other than buying groceries that she would buy anyway!!  Fast forward many years to her last Christmas on this earth and Allison is in college for her 2nd year and at Christmas my mother (her grandmother) gives her a beautiful china set with all the serving pieces etc...  I remember Allison loved it and was wow'd that Grandma would do that for her and once again I found out she had saved stamps at the grocery store to get all the pieces for her!  When she got married that following summer I asked her if she wanted to register for something that she picked out and she said no, she loved her china and I found out that John loves yellow, and her dishes had yellow in them, so they were perfect!  And now that Mom is gone those dishes mean even more to Allison.

Allison's everyday stoneware, for some reason has not fared very well and is in need of replacing and Albertson's, where I do a lot of my grocery shopping, has dishes that are red....which is perfect for replacing her current red dishes....and I have loved collecting the stamps and watching my paper fill up with them in anticipation of getting Allison new dishes!  And every time I get a stamp I think of my mother and how I'm doing what she would do.....it's kind of great!!  And why not get the dishes for free if you can???? How brilliant is that!

Mom, I'm following in your footsteps and I really love it!!