Wednesday, December 24, 2008

Something to consider


When selecting a headstone/cemetery for a family member (or yourself, if you’re the kind of person who wants it all taken care of before hand), please remember this:

If you select a flat stone and live in a state that gets snow, it will be very, very, very, hard for family and friends to find your grave in the winter. Even if they visit it all the time when the weather is good. Even if they have a map from the sexton. Take it from someone who spent almost a half hour looking for my Aunt and Uncles’ graves this Christmas season.



So, if you want a nice wreath at Christmas or a visit on your winter birthday, pick out a headstone that will stand above the snow and a cemetery that allows them.

Monday, December 15, 2008

My favorite ornament is this little guy


I found him some years ago while cleaning out my aunt’s basement after she moved into an assisted living center.

The tag reads “To: Mrs. Cogshall, From: Florence Nelson (my grandma). It is dated 1914. I wonder why she never gave it to her?

In that same box of Christmas stuff, I also found some vintage GE Ice light bulbs

and a small bag containing about $15 in silver dollars. It almost made up for the weeks of pouring through hundreds of boxes trying to decide what was going to auction and what to toss in the trash hopper. Almost. Since I inherited all the same pack rat genes as my aunt and grandma, sorting through all that history was not an easy chore for me.