Mother’s Day

It is that time of year again. Mother’s day is upon us. Everyone year I shop for my mother, his, and his grandma. And each year it gets harder. And I Struggle with the proccess of picking out something that not only shows them we loved them, but also something that is thoughtful, from the heart and that they will love, so we arent just getting them a gift that is going in the back of the closet…

Same thing every year. So this year, I have it figured out, and each gift is only going to cost us no more than $10 each. Not too bad, huh?

For his mother and grandmother, I am going in a different direction, thinking outside of the Usual Mother’s day gifts. I have been working on our family trees for years now, and they both had a member of the family they loved dearly, miss since his passing back in the late 70’s, and they were quite close. To make it easier on me, its the exact same person.

He came over from Hungary in the early 1900’s, with a fake birth year and a fake “mother”. So tracking him and finding anything about him has proved to be quite a challenge. He is my Holy grail of genealogy. His is my conquest.

So after long hours and tedious searching, I found a little bit on him. So for mothers day I am taking his certificate from Ellis Island, his citizenship/naturalization papers, and a photograph and biography on the ship (the SS OHIO) he brought from Germany into the US. I am going to have them framed and wrapped. They can display them if they wish or they can put them up, cause obviously it is something they are going to want to keep and cherish. It wasnt easy finding this stuff, and when I found it, i mentioned it to them (before deciding on mothers day presents) and they were both excited, so I know they will like em.

My mom was a bit tougher, since she dont miss anyone! lol Shes stubborn, and although she would love something like that, there is noone in my family, other than my great grandmother that she would care about. And as much as I would LOVE to do it for her, I can’t find any documents of her travels here from Germany.

So instead, I am in the process of making her a calendar with all the grandkids and her children from photographs that I have taken. That is something my mom would cherish and keep far after 2008 has passed and be a long ago memory.

So, I thought outside of the box and managed to come up with great gifts, that arent going to cause us to take out a loan, ha ha. Yes, I am serious. I am terrible at thrift shopping when it comes to gifts. So this actually turned out to be a double blessing gift idea!!

I might also (for his family) print out and frame pictures of his grave stone for them. (Some ppl call that a morbid gift) but its not to me. Its about giving them a present representing someone they loved and sadly, lost.

Best of all, these presents came from deep thought, hard planning and the heart. And what is better than that?!

Now on to me. For Mothers day I told Brad TONS of stuff I wanted to give him an idea, and lots to choose from. So I will have to wait and see what he decides on, or if he goes in his own direction, what I got from him!

Theres lots of stuff I asked for. New couch, new kitchen table, plants, a plant stand. Lots of stuff for my yard, swings, benches, the usual motherly stuff!! lol