Saturday, June 6, 2009

birthday celebration

© photograph Grace Albaugh 2009

birthday - age 11

It is our grandson C's birthday on Sunday and he turns 8. This is the fun stage in life for boys because they want to learn about everything. Hubby and I decided to give the grandchildren experiences for their birthday's instead of just buying more stuff, with the exception of one book as well. The children have really enjoyed these gifts and they create memories they will have forever.
We always had very simple birthdays and gifts in my family. Mother and daddy were not poor but we were not well off either. Solid middle class with a certain bit of style I like to say. Birthday parties were small and included the best of family friends. We had no extended family that lived near us. Grandma and Grandpa Hall were the closest and they lived several thousand miles away. I loved these parties. The food was simple and the gifts were small and meaningful. I've never been a "stuff" person. My physical needs are few and so these gifts were perfect.
I'm thankful for the simple way of life we lived. Mother and daddy were wise to give us an abundance of what we needed the most, love. We were rich with that.

© 2009

2 comments:

Kathleen said...

How wonderful to be raised with so much love and solid values. I'm afraid our family kept a whole lot of stuff (except ma dad, the hermit). But we were also blessed with an abundance of love. What kind of experiences did have you choses to give the grandkids?

Grace Albaugh said...

We take them to all kinds of places around the twin cities, MN zoo and Imax, children's theater, science museum etc...

It's really fun.