Our collection of holiday ornaments, like all of our possessions, are the combined hand-me-downs of my family, Jim’s family, and things we have acquired in our two decades (!) together. Among my favorites are the Santa and Mrs. Claus that I believe came from my Grandma Judy.
I knew they were something she had made, but not much more. Then last week we had our dear friend Web over for the holiday and he recognized them, because his family had the same set! He told me they were from a kit that allowed you to decorate the pre-made bodies with sequins and push pins.
Today I did a Google image search and learned a little more about these kits. Dates on resale sites included 1950s, 60s and 70s but one particular site that had an unopened kit by Walco dated it to 1974, the year of my birth. I like to think of how Grandma Judy, my mom’s stepmother, picked these out to decorate & give to our new family.
That reminded me of a time in the 1980s that Aimee and I went with Grandma Judy to the sewing & craft store. I think it was a Benjamin Franklin store in Momence, where she lived. We purchased kits called The Original Doll-Baby that looked similar to Cabbage Patch Kids, and then she stuffed and sewed the dolls for us. (I’m trying to remember their names… I know Aimee’s had blond hair and mine had brown.)
In those days I loved to pick up such kits, along with small wood crafts to paint, stickers, embroidery floss, and scraps of material. Almost every weekend when we would go to Kankakee with my mom to grocery shop, I would pick up something or other for a craft project. To this day I continue to pick up crafts kits, odds and ends from the Economy shop and the local Facebook resale group that I intend to make into fabulous works of handmade art.