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Meaningful Christmas Presents

December 31, 2024

Yellow ornament
striped ornament

This year Chatter gave Chitter and me the same meaningful present with a nod to Pap and Miss Cindy.

Chatter had saved a yellow linen shirt of Miss Cindy’s and a striped button up short sleeve shirt of Pap’s. I can just see them wearing the shirts since they wore them often.

She sent fabric along with text she found in each of their handwrite to a lady on Etsy who made the lovely ornaments you see at the top of this post.

Pap’s says Be not afraid along with his signature. The line is from a song he wrote. You can hear it at this link.

Miss Cindy’s says Trust in God & Tie your Camel Love Miss Cindy.

Chatter found the first words from Miss Cindy among her belongings when we cleaned out her house. I’m guessing the Love Miss Cindy handwrite was from a card she gave Chatter at some point.

She also gifted Granny one of Pap versions of the ornament. As you might guess she really loved it.

Chitter gave all of us the same present and everyone loved it! I’ve told you before she and The Deer Hunter can come up with rhymes of poetry out of thin air. She wrote out little rhymes (all different in each person’s book) to go along with photos of the boys. She titled them The Collected Works of Woody and The Collected Works of Ira.

Here’s a sample from my book about Woodrow: “When I grow up I want to drive a truck, But right now all I’ve got is a paci to suck. Grandma will let me do what I want I know, Because I’m so cute she can’t say no!”

And from Ira: “Grandma is my favorite girl I love her curly hair, I like to play and sing and dance in her computer lair! When she is not looking I head for the cord, I know I’m not supposed to but just let me because I’m bored!”

I’m going to keep these special Christmas presents by my bedside so I can enjoy them throughout the coming year.

Tipper

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43 Comments

  1. Those ornaments and the quotes from sweet little Ira and Woodrow will always bring precious memories.
    You and your husband are so blessed to have such a close, loving, real Christian family.
    And you, Mrs. Pressley:
    Your price is far above rubies which is so evident through the wonderful family you’ve raised.
    Happy New Year and May God Richly Bless Y’all and hold y’all in His loving arms!
    Sincerely,
    Joe and Cindy Kaiser
    Piney Woods of Deep East Texas

  2. I love everything about all of the gifts. I am a quilter, but was not back when my parents died. I so wish I had saved things to put in a quilt. I just didn’t know. HAPPY NEW YEAR TO EVERYONE.

  3. Those were specially beautiful. I know you will treasure them always. My youngest Daughter and my husband’s niece went in together and made homemade baskets filled with home baked bread and canned apples and a jar of pancakes with a little bottle of syrup and also baked peacans. oh it was beautiful. I think they made 14 of them . Everyone loved them.

  4. Thank you!! You and your family are so special! What wonderful gifts the girls gave! I love them, special treasures to keep forever and hand down!
    God bless you and yours, may 2025 be a year of blessings.❤❤

  5. Oh, how cute and creative! My sister just found out she’s going to be a grandmother for the first time, and she is so excited. That gives me an idea to do something for her along that line. I just signed up for a watercolor class at my senior center starting in January and their message today was, “Creativity is intelligence having fun.” ~Albert Einstein. So true! Between your message today and their message, I think my creative juices have started flowing! 🙂

  6. Our family tends to order off Amazon wish lists because we hate stores. Truth is that it’s the only time of year we get new clothes, or in my case, new kitchen items. This year I received a dough rolling mat like Tipper’s and love it. Then we each try to come up with something not wished for that the other would like. My daughter received a new laptop because she’s off to college next year (we think). My wife got a pair of shoes designed by and for nurses because she teaches and is on her feet all day. And i was given a new walking staff to help me ready to take Dad’s ashes up the mountain to where he wanted to depart from. It’s easy to see with the post and comments that those of us with a few Christmases under our belts understand that the real joy of giving is for a friend or family member to realize they are always in our thoughts.

  7. What sweet and special gifts. So thoughtful!! I also saw Katie talking about Matt taking her down to the newly plowed garden to walk around barefoot after she had Ira reminding her of what she loved doing as a child. Katie will never forget that.

  8. The Christmas gifts were very sweet, precious and such a thoughtful idea. I’ll be looking forward to see the ornaments from a personal item of Granny’s. Maybe a crocheted one. And please get a piece of material from Pawpaw Tony. Then the set will be complete. I’m sure others have thought of this also. What precious memories. Today we are celebrating our 58th anniversary. We will have a nice dinner here at home and just remember moments of our wedding day and think how special it was to us. Happy New Year to all of the family and viewers too. Sending all prayers. May God bless this coming year with good health, happy times and a load of love and blessings to behold. Love continuing forever. South Mississippi, Jennifer

      1. Thank you Miss Tipper, you are so kind and mean a lot to me. Happy New Year dear sweet friend. Jennifer

  9. What beautiful and thoughtful gifts. It gave me a wonderful idea. I think I’ll make ornaments with my handwriting now to give my kids and grandkids and they always have them. You have a marvelously talented family. God has blessed you mightily. Prayers for all.

  10. Well Woody and Ira can say they started out famous. They each had a writer before they could write themselves and were stars in numerous videos. By the way, those ornaments illustrate why handwritten is so much better in the long haul than machine type. There is personality in handwriting. (Mine has changed significantly across over half a century.) And speaking of personality, what did Miss Cindy mean by tying your camel? Were it a horse, I would think it means if you plan to ride out on the horse you rode in on, tie it up before you leave it. Or, as we used to hear, “Don’t burn your bridges.” Probably we need a revival of “Poor Richard”, the “Farmer’s Almanac” and “Aesop’s Fables”.

      1. Ok it’s late. But, a country greeting I heard many a time growing up was, “Come in and tie your horses up.” Same meaning as “light and set a spell.”

  11. Those are such treasured gifts to cherish for all times! I’m glad you are keeping them out to enjoy all the year through.

  12. Not much strikes me anymore in a good way, but I tell you those ornaments are the most thoughtful gifts I’ve ever seen!!! I bet they made your day and Christmas complete! One phrase only “my cup runneth over with good things!” You may not be a multi-millionaire (I don’t know your business) but I’d say if love and thoughtful consideration were riches, you’d be a Shockafeller! God bless you all and here’s to health and prosperity in all areas in the New Year Year….may the family grow and strengthen as a mighty tree!

  13. What special and unusual gifts!!!!! This is truly what life is all about!!!! I know you will treasure these gifts always!!!!!

  14. I thought these two gifts were just the best! Also loved Chitter’s story on her channel about the Deer Hunter taking her to the freshly plowed garden so she could walk through it barefoot after Ira’s birth because she loved to do that when she was a kid. It is things like this that warm the heart!

  15. What beautiful and sentimental gifts. I would treasure both of them. Hope you and your family have a wonderful and blessed new year!

  16. Gifts made from the heart are always so appreciated at Christmas and all year long. One of my sweetest gifts was a photo of all six of our precious grandchildren. I have pictures and cards made by my grandbabies hanging all over the fridge. One of our neighbors made homemade cookies and candies for us. I love the picture and poetry books Katie made for you and the sweet ornaments Corie had made. I, very much enjoyed your Christmas video. Thanks for taking us along. I hope everyone has a Happy New Year!!!

  17. Tipper, those were EXCELLENT gifts! Just think how much those boys have enriched your lives already! How did you ever live without them?

  18. Such beautiful and thoughtful gifts! What keepsakes to treasure! Katie and Corie are so sweet. 🙂
    God bless your dear family!

  19. The ornaments and books of poetry are such sweet and precious gifts. I imagine they’ll be treasured for many years to come.

  20. I love those gifts! They are so thoughtful and full of love!
    Could you give the information for the lady who made the handwriting gifts please? I have a shirt of my dad’s and a notebook of his handwritten words that I think could be used to make one of those for my sisters and me. Thank you for the beautiful idea of remembrance gifts!
    Love and prayers for you all to feel better and for Granny,
    Meg

  21. No matter where you look, talent is abundant in your Clan. You guys are so Blessed. Anther subject, in the next few days we are having a hard freeze. Get that wood close to the basement, you guys might use it. Prayers always for Granny and God’s Blessing on you guys.

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