Lifetime Keepsakes – Do You Have One?
This may be a silly story but it's an fun one that started for me when I was in the fourth grade. A lifetime keepsake with a quirky little Halloween tradition.
Like I said when I was in fourth grade I was on a school trip, or a group outing we found ourselves at Mr. Gatti's or what the equivalent of Mr. Gattis at the time (it was a really long time ago, details get fuzzy). I remember shoving money into one of those claw machines. You know the ones where you waste $10 to try to pick up some $3 toy.
Well I got lucky that day, I put my 25¢ in (and yes they were much cheaper in the day), I moved that claw back, then I moved it to the side and then I hit the release button. By gosh that claw grabbed something. It grabbed this crystal looking plastic case (mind you I was going for something different, but this is what it picked up). I won! I won! Yes, but what was in this plastic case? I couldn't see because the plastic wasn't completely clear. It was a milky plastic. So when the claw dropped my prize and I was able to grab it, I opened it up to find these cute little Jack O'Lantern pumpkins smiling at me. I was caught a bit off guard because, at the time we were no where near Halloween, it was April or May. But there they were two smiling pumpkins, then I realized they were earrings.
That's when my lifetime keepsake began, I owned the coolest set of Jack O'Lantern earrings ever. I have had these earrings since then and somehow I try to incorporate them into my Halloween each and every year. I keep them put up in my jewelry box and bring them out in October. They are the most precious thing I own, but they are a fun quirky memory I get to have every year, and it's a fun story to tell.
I have seen pumpkin earrings over the years and I have even bought others, but earrings like these I haven't come across, ever. I think that's why I hang on to them. I've had to fix the earring posts over the years but the pumpkins themselves have held up and stood the test of time year after year after year. Who knows these quirky little pumpkin earrings my eventually become a family heirloom. Who knows? What I do know is that I will wear them each and every Halloween season until I cannot wear them anymore.
What fun lifetime keepsake do you have that you love?