The Quiltmaker's Gift

So as I had mentioned in my previous post, I wanted to do a Christmas book and activity for each day of advent up until Christmas. There is a nice book and craft list at the Crafty Crow right now. Only most of her crafts are a bit advanced for a less-than-two-year-old. So today we read The Quiltmaker's Gift by Jeff Brumbeau and I made a little fort for Anastasia out of all our quilts (and a comforter) and the table. I put pillows inside and she made sure to fill it with more pillows and toys and pretty much didn't care about it other than that.

I made sure to also include snuggle time by the woodstove under the quilt made for me by my Great Aunt Marie (who passed away about 3 years ago). My mom's mom died when I was very young and my mom was in her very early twenties. My Great Aunt Marie took my mom in under her wing even though she had her own 8 or 9 kids and countless grandchildren. She made every single one of her grandchildren a quilt that she was saving for each of them for when they got married. She had arthritis and was going blind and made atleast 15 quilts. Apparently she had done the same for my brother and I. She gave us our quilts the Christmas before she died because she knew she didn't have much time left.

Now when I snuggle under the quilt, I have a link that surpasses time, and even death to that woman who survived the great depression, several wars and raised her 8 kids in a humble Virginia farmhouse. I will never forget one of the very last things she told me a few months before she died, "I do not envy you young people having to live in this world you have inherited." (I am paraphrasing a bit because I don't remember her exact words.) We live in a culture so obsessed with youth and she aged so gracefully and didn't fear the death we all want to run from. Instead she felt sorry for us young people who have to grow up in such difficult and uncertain times. My great aunt Marie lived a very modest and simple life and took such great joy in being with her family and loved ones. I hope all of you, my faithful blog readers find that same joy this holiday season and may you reflect on those memories and people dearest to your heart.