Kelli at There’s No Place Like Home hosts “Show and Tell Friday” asking “Do you have a something special to share with us? It could be a trinket from grade school, a piece of jewelry, an antique find. Your show and tell can be old or new. Use your imagination and dig through those old boxes in your closet if you have to! Feel free to share pictures and if there’s a story behind your special something, that’s even better! If you would like to join in, all you have to do is post your “Show and Tell” on your blog, copy the post link, come over here and add it to Mr. Linky. Guidelines are here.“
This last weekend my step-father and two sisters came up to visit from Texas, and we got together with my two sisters who live in a town about 30-40 minutes from here. All of my immediate family was together except my brother in TX who couldn’t come. It was the first time we had all been together since my mom’s funeral almost two years ago, and though there were a few sad moments of missing Mom, overall we had a great visit.
They brought a big tub full of old pictures and assorted papers, some from my mom and some from an old trunk of my aunt’s that she brought to them when she was downsizing to a smaller home. We spent Saturday evening going through all of that, laughing til we cried over some of the pictures, how we looked, what we wore, or the situation in the pictures.
There were several “historical” treasures there as well. My grandfather’s 7th grade diploma, my grandmother’s college diploma, his death certificate, her obituary notice were all there. There were also the books from each of their funerals:
Old recipes tucked into my mother’s baby book:
The baby book itself only had my mother’s name, weight, and a list of gifts received for the baby. I smiled over the fact that my grandmother kept up with baby books less than I did, especially with the third child.
There were pictures of my great-grandparents:
And my mom and two of her siblings when they were kids (my mom is on the right):
And me, around 4th or 5th grade:
My mom’s high school graduation picture:
One of the things I most treasured was my grandmother’s college graduation book. Her name was Harriet, and I hadn’t known before that she went by Hattie:
Inside was a place for autographs, school colors, and a homecoming ribbon:
Her school song:
And notes from the Commencement sermon:
My grandmother passed away when I was four years old. To have some her her things written in her own hand is very gratifying to me. I enjoyed getting to know her a little bit through these items.
My oldest son is scanning many of the one-of-a-kind older pictures, enhancing them (removing reddish or yellowish tones, making them clearer, etc.), to make CDs for each of us.
The background in these pictures, by the way, is my Aunt Dot’s crocheted bedspread that I mentioned a few weeks ago.
Stray Thoughts 
It must have been a very special moment for you to look at all these things for the first time! How wonderful that these great treasures still exist! And what a wonderful high school graduation picture of your mom!
Thanks for sharing!
Have a great Friday with lots of interesting S&T’s!
Best wishes from Anita in Germany
What wonderful treasures. How lovely to be able to hold all that history in your hands.
This gave me chills! Chills in a good sense! My mom is long past too, and I remember going through so much, and finding treasures only a family could love and cherish!!
This week, I got to be here with you as you shared!!
I love Show N Tell.
You are such a lucky girl to have gotten your hands on such treasures. I don’t think I could have controlled myself when they brought that basket in. Just love your post. And the great thing now is that you can scan them and share with your family down the road.
Take care,
Connie
What wonderful treasures and family history! It’s so nice to have all of those to give us a sense of where we came from.
Wow. What wonderful photos and books filled with your family history! That’s great that you can have cds made for the whole family to enjoy. blessings…
What a wonderful treasure you have there. I am sorry about your Mom’s passing – but happy that you have such wonderful memories of your family. What a gift!
Jane
I loved your show and tell today. My sister and I have spent many hours pouring over treasures like those. Both my parents have been gone over 20 years and these keepsakes just become more precious. My grandmother also died when I was four, and I love anything in her handwriting.
It’s wonderful that you have all of these mementos. They are priceless treasures.
I have kept journals for both of my grandsons. I don’t write in them as often as I should anymore, but many special moments of their younger life are recorded in them and of course, all in Grandma’s handwriting. I hope that one day they will be special to the boys.
I enjoyed my visit immensley. Thanks so much for sharing these very special memories.
I love all your old pictures! We can learn a lot about opur families by all the stuff they saved. Great treasures to cherish!
Oh how I love goign through old things and finding such special treasures!!!!!! what wonderful keepsakes to have! I love the old pictures, and the books
thanks for sharing!
How amazing!
I love those old stories from the people who have already lived more than I have.
It is as if their stories are so much fuller.
Great that your son is doing it on Cd
Hi Barbara 🙂 What a wonderful treasure trunk! The photos and memories are so precious. Sometimes just having something to hold in your hand that they held means so much. Blessings! Q
OH WOW! This is TREASURE INDEED! I think I’ve visited your blog before and been equally impressed~can’t wait ’til my next visit! LOVE THIS! (((((HUGS))))) sandi
how wonderful to have an interesting family time together
thanks for sharing
all very interesting
Thank you for sharing something so personal and dear to you! I love the old photographs, and your grandmother not writing much in your mom’s baby book made me smile too. I am still working on my second’s baby book, and I have a third baby to do after that. 🙂 I enjoyed reading your blog. 🙂
I absolutely love this! I so appreciate old family photos and momentos….they are such a special piece of who we are.
I can just imagine how wonderful it is to have things written in your grandmother’s hand.
Thank you for sharing these true treasures!
Wonderful Show & Tell today Barbara! What a special time for your family to share all of these together!
Wonderful! It is so comforting to have things that belonged to family members who came before. It brings such a good feeling to be connected to family–even when you were not able to know them! Thank you for sharing these very special items.
I’m deeply moved when I look at all these photographs. I’ve not seen such beautiful things for a long, long time. Everything is just so special. Your mom’s beautiful. Thank you for sharing this, Barbara.
What a treasure trove!! I love old pictures, recipes, etc! Thanks for sharing!
Katherine
Yellow Rose Arbor
P.S. – I have a hard time with getting wordpress blogs to load, sorry to be late with my reply/comment.
What wonderful treasures you have! I am sorry that you lost your mother, it must be hard. I am so glad though that you have all these wonderful keepsakes!
Blessings to you! Sharon
Wow, these are amazing treasures, Barbara! The photos are beautiful and the handwritten keepsakes are very special.
Hugs,
Kelli
What a true treasure those are!
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