Rednesday and My Favorite Things

Happy Rednesday everyone!
Please stop by and say HI to Sue at It's a Very Cherry World for more REDnesday inspiration!
Today I'm continuing my tribute to my parents and sharing some very special gifts they blessed me with.

I think one of the reasons I love the movie "A Christmas Story" is because it reminds me so much of my own childhood. Our small Midwest neighborhood could have been the model for the neighborhood in the movie, old houses predating WWII, snow drifts so high a kid could get lost and a big old brick school building, close enough to walk to. My Mom would bundle us up so tight, you could barely move and you could only pray you didn't have to go to the bathroom before you got to school. (if you have never seen this movie, watch this clip and you'll get an idea what I'm talking about) And Christmas, it was always so magical! We could hardly wait for our Mom and Dad to take us to Montgomery Wards where we would find a magical Christmas Land, complete with all the decorations, the latest and greatest toys, all things Rudolph because Montgomery Wards WAS the birthplace of Rudolph and of course Santa. I remember one year in particular, I must have been about 9, it wasn't a doll or bike that grabbed my attention, it wasn't even found in the toy department. The thing that grabbed my attention that year was a music box. It was a small music box with a white plastic base and on top was a little doll dressed in an authentic Italian costume. I remember showing it to my mom and dad and telling them that I REALLY wanted it more than anything. Well, just as in A Christmas Story, my parents spent the next couple of weeks trying to convince me that I really didn't want it and of course it WAS under the tree, Christmas morning. If you look closely, you can see that little music box sitting on the far right end of the mantle.

A year or two later my parents gave me another music box for Christmas and the year after that another and so my collection began. About the time I was in 6th grade my oldest sister decided she wanted to collect LLadros (sp?) and my middle sister Hummels. I was quite content collecting music boxes but unbeknown to me, my parents were on the look out for a line of Music Boxes that would be collectible and comparable to what my sisters wanted to collect. That year they gave me my first Anri Music box. They were hand carved and hand painted in Italy. The first one included a carving of Snoopy and Linus and played "Please Release Me".

The next year the carvings became much more delicate and detailed. I've picked out some of my favorites and ones with the most RED to share with you today.
This one from 1970 plays "It's a Small, Small World".

This one from 1980 plays "Do You Know Where You're Going To"

This one from 1987 plays "The Entertainer".

And so my collection continued for 23 years and then they became impossible to find. My parents tried and tried to find one, every Christmas with no luck. Then in 1996, the last Christmas I had with my parents, I had one gift left to open. I could hardly believe my eyes, after all these years, they were finally able to find one last music box for me.

How ironic and bittersweet that it would be a little girl, kissing her favorite teddy before she lays him down to sleep and guess what it plays? "My Favorite Things"!