eleven birdies

{from suchprettythings - of shabby chic couture in NYC}

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I'm a chair gal. I just love chairs. A pretty chair is like a beautiful invitation... that is what I see when I look at a chair. Recently, my dad and stepmom called saying they found a pair of chairs at a garage sale that they thought I might like. Isn't that the best? When family or friends just see something and think of you? I do love chairs. In talking with my dad on the phone, he adds, "Yeah, and we have this rocker... it was your great grandmother's... it can't be any newer than the 1920's. The seat has a tear so it needs to be reupholstered but you can take it if you want."

Are You freakin kidding me?

You mean, my great grandma Opal that practically raised me from infancy to 5, had a rocker that you remember as a child and it has been sitting in some room in your house, torn and alone? What in the world could you mean, if I want it?!?!? Quite frankly, I can't think of many things I have wanted more.

I love Christmas. I love everything about the season. Last year was a hard year for me, and I just never got into the Christmas spirit. Well, I plan to make up for last year with this Christmas! I know my house isn't going to be perfect by Christmas, but I would like to work on my dining room. Thus the pictures of all the cane back chairs. I have inherited my grandma's dining table/chairs/hutch. They are a strange wood finish, but the lines and design are remarkably french inspired. I love chairs and Christmas and France. I am thinking I will recover the seats in a pale blue green linen, paint the whole thing a creamy white, distress distress distress and slap on some wipe on poly. Maybe I can recruit the worlds best seamstress (my mommy :o) to help me make those little skirts for the chairs? They border on a little too frilly for me, but I just love the idea of pretty skirts for pretty chairs.

I miss my great grandma. She would have been so crazy about my girls. When I was brand new, both my parents went to school and worked. I spent a lot of time with my great grandma. She thought I was the best thing in the whole world (the only grandchild in the state) and she just delighted in me. I remember so many details about her. At night she would let me wear one of her pretty night gowns. We would put face cream on together. She would tell me stories until I fell asleep. She was exactly the grandma you would hope for. She eventually got Alzheimer's and would have trouble remembering who I was. It is a terrible disease. Recently, I went to dinner with one of my uncles when he was in town. I asked about my great grandma. He talked about all her pretty roses (at her home previous to the apartment I knew) and how she just took such good care of her home. He told me that her house was the best part of Christmas- she bought the best presents and it was quite the affair. The boys (my dad and his two brothers) went in their sunday best, and they ate a huge dinner. It shouldn't surprise me that she was a great gardener. I knew she was a wonderful cook. She made things beautiful. I want to be like her.

Maybe this Christmas, we will wrap a present for her. And when we open it, I will tell the girls about their great great grandma Opal, and what an amazing and beautiful woman she was.

Wishing you beautiful chairs and beautiful memories,

kali