Memories of a Child in Winter

I am the keeper of all pictures of old in my family.  I have always wanted to do an Ancestry.com search and find out even more.  I should put that on my list of things to do this coming year.

I should preface this story with another one.  I have been blessed in this life not to have one, but two amazing mothers in my life.  We lost my Mom before I was 5 years old.  I remember so little from those days, but I know it was a struggle for my Dad.  Two and one half years later, we were blessed to have Mom, which I will refer to as Mom Margaret, come into our lives.  She took under her wings  these 7 children.  As the years went by, 3 more children were added to the family. It is an amazing story and I always tell Mom now that it would make a great book.

 I would not be the person I am today without her positive influences.

Now back to my original story.  My first mother, Mother C Ann, had those 7 children  before she passed on. As I was hunting through my mass collection,  I came upon this photo of my Mom.  It was taken in the year 1922-1923.  Knowing about the depression of that day, the fur muff and scarf intrigued me.  The coat looks like it could be made out of velvet.

                                                          
This picture would be the inspiration for my winter vignette.  I recalled that I had bought a bundled up doll with red hair complete with muff and scarf at least 20 years ago at a craft sale.  She was always packed up in my Christmas decorations.  So as I was pulling all of the boxes out of the attic before Christmas, I made sure to pull 'C Ann" out to make a display come January.(My Mom, C Ann also had auburn hair.)


As I am writing this post, the temperature is about 28 degrees.  We rarely get such cold temps like that in Alabama.  It seemed more fun to create a winter display when the weather really did feel like winter.

Here is a picture of the woolen muff on the doll

Even though the picture of Mom C Ann didn't have a sled, the doll did.  I am almost starting to imagine fluffy snowflakes coming down.

                                                     
Referring back to the sepia picture, do you see the connection to this crafted little girl?  Uncanny, isn't it?

                                           
Because the picture of Mom C Ann looked like she was ready to go somewhere, I pulled out one of my vintage suitcases.  In it, I piled red covered old books.  My Mom was an excellent student, so I know reading was one of her pleasures.

                                                    
A bit of greenery.....

                                                         
  And for fun, I used some red and white baker's twine to attach the suitcase key to the Lucite handle.

                                                                 
The suitcase was propped up in the corner of one of my kitchen prep areas.  I thought it would be fun to walk by and  glance at the display.  I knew it would be able to reconnect me to my past.


                             I couldn't decide if I wanted to use one of my glass domes or not.

                                                                               
                                                       I decided to go without.

                                                                            
        For picture taking purposes only  the above picture was taken after I removed the curved glass that was set into the frame.  I replaced the glass for the final arrangement.  I think the curved glass gives the display a vintage effect.

                                                  
As I meander through the kitchen on these colder days, I stop and smile and reflect on a season long ago.


Do you see how one photo gets the imagination going?  Why don't you go to your box of old photos and create a memory display of your own?