Christmas Present Miracles, Old and New

Every once in awhile, all the ducks line up in a neat little row,
and everything falls into place, and your Christmas gifts are perfect, just perfect.

I am talking about the gifts you give.
Gifts you receive are always perfect, because they are gifts.

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I've had three minor Christmas gifting miracles, two of them this year.
The first involved these:

Yup, flatware. Vintage silverplate. But, not mine, at least not anymore.

There is a lot of it, and it now belongs to my sister Peggy. To make a long story short (yes, first time in my life I ever did that!), I'll just say that for personal reasons I wanted to give Peg some ornate flatware, something really special.

I haunted Ebay, and fell in love with a Reed & Barton pattern, patented in 1901, called Tiger Lily. It has a sterling silver twin, Amaryllis, but that's very rare and also out of my price range for gifts!

Ebay had some sets of Tiger Lily, or its 1950s incarnation, Festivity,

but this is a popular old pattern; full sets were pricey.

Craigslist to the rescue with my miracle.

On a fluke search, I discovered someone only 30 minutes from me, selling an estate set of silverplate flatware: Reed & Barton's Festivity from the early 1950s, with a few of the older pieces too. Full dinner service for 9, plus extras. And at a price a third of anything on Ebay.

Score!

I cleaned up an old silver chest, and tucked all 65 pieces happily into their rightful places,

and gave it all to Peggy on Christmas Day.

I was kind of hoping she wouldn't like the set;

I'd have happily kept it all for myself!

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My other Christmas miracle this year was a gift for daughter Anne. She vacillated between wanting a wide-bed scanner or a professional dress form. This will make sense if you know that she is a graduate design student -- theatrical costumes.

The Christmas deadline approacheth-ed. Finally, on December 23rd, I went ahead and ordered the big scanner from Amazon, with free shipping. I considered shelling out $58 for next day delivery, but figured, "Anne's 22; she can understand a delay!"

But . . . a delivery man tromped up our porch steps on Christmas Eve, the very next day, and dropped off the scanner. I was flabbergasted. And grateful. And stunned. The next day!

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But neither of these minor miracles compares to one from nearly 20 years ago.
Daughter Alida, then a pre-schooler, wanted a Care Bear for Christmas -- Cheer Bear.
Remember them?

The problem was . . . Care Bears had been discontinued several years before, and no store carried them. No store. I went everywhere, and even called the manufacturer. No luck.

Then just days before Christmas, Howard and I were pushing the girls in their double stroller through a local mall, and I noticed a tiny toy store across from the food court. I'd never noticed that store before, but it was worth a shot.

Leaving Howard with the girls, I dashed in and got hold of the owner. Did he have any Care Bears? I wasn't even asking for Cheer Bear at this point; I'd have taken Crack Bear if that was all I could get.

"Care Bears? They don't make them anymore." I turned to go. . . ."But wait," he said. "I think I have one in the back, old stock. Let me check."

I don't think I breathed while I waited for him to come back. He returned and -- you know how this turns out, don't you? -- in his hands was a brand new Cheer Bear.

I nearly cried, but instead I asked how much, and he said he wasn't sure -- it had been so long since they'd sold one! So he charged me $20, and I double bagged ol' Cheer Bear, and smuggled him home. Happiness all around.

And that toy store I had never noticed before? I never saw it again; it was gone when I went back to the mall after Christmas. A lot of small stores were closing then, around 1990, so I am sure it folded like so many of its size. I'm pretty sure. There can't be any other explanation, can there? Nah.

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Thanks to Tam of The Gypsy's Corner for letting me share my 3 minor miracles on her Three Or More Tuesday blog party. Click the highlighted words or icon to go there for more!

And thanks also to The Roomies for Past Due Tuesday, for letting me share my vintage silverplated flatware with you. Again, click on the titles or icon for more, or to join in a lovely new blog party.
Tomorrow, on Wednesday, a tour of all the Christmas trees at That Old House -- and there are a lot of them! Now, go sharpen your pencils; it's nearly Resolution Time! -- Cass