The Traveling Snowman

About 6 years ago or so, my Mom bought the same Christmas gift for my daughter and her two cousins that are close in age; a snowman head. It's a pillow really, yet kind of hard to use as such because of the loooonnnnnnnnggggggggggg carrot nose. But it IS cute and SOOOO soft. My daughter kept it on her bed for a couple years until she felt she'd outgrown the little-girl-stuffed animal stage. She did not want Mr. Snowman anymore.

Summer came, and along with it, the drill team annual garage sale. All the girls on the team contribute items to be sold in order to earn money for their Fall trip to California. My daughter decided to sell her snowman head. After all, Gma never comes into her bedroom and never asks about Mr. Snowman, so she'll never know, right? WRONG! Gma is a garage sale junkie.

Gma had moved to Santaquin though, so who would've thought she'd hear about, let alone come, to a Mapleton garage sale, when there were probably hundreds of garage sales going on all over the place, but come to this one she did. Would she remember or even recognize Mr. Snowman? Of course she did. He's quite unique. She asked the host about the garage sale and found out it was being hosted by the SHS drill team, so my Mom asked if a girl by my daughter's name had contributed Mr. Snowman. Indeed she had. BUSTED!!!

Now my Mom could've been hurt, disappointed, or upset, but she was able to chuckle about it and came up with the brilliant idea to buy Mr. Snowman (again), hang onto him until Christmas, and then re-gift him to...........my daughter. Hilarious! Now every year since then, they pass that snowman back and forth, coming up with creative ways to package him up, wondering if the other will guess what the gift is (as real gifts are given too). My husband thinks they should both "get over it already" and cease this silliness. But I think it's a wonderful thing. It's a reminder every year, of a situation that could've caused discomfort, maybe even bitterness, but has rather fostered a fun relationship in sharing a private (not so private anymore) joke that causes them to laugh and love. A gift is a gift, from someone you love, whether it's something you use or not isn't important.