In the middle of the chaos this afternoon, with the wrapping paper flying and the cat investigating gift bags and the kids opening everything at once so I couldn’t see what all they got, I picked up a small box with all three of our names on it, but not who it was from.

I asked if it was from Grandma, and she said, “Not this Grandma,” which I found a little odd, as the other one’s been gone for almost ten years. And it wasn’t, it was from my mom, who is in fact the Grandma to my kids.

But when I got to a package for me, and stuck my hand in the gift bag and pulled out a piece of silver, I began to suspect something was up. It’s not like my mom to give me random silver, although I do like it. All of my silver is family heirloom stuff, and it all means a lot to me, and she knows it. Something newly bought would just be a little odd and out of place.

But I kept opening, and with the silver lid was a little silver teapot, obviously well-loved. It was my other Grandma’s, and my Dad says he remembers her using it a lot. I’m not the most emotionally demonstrative person in the world, but this was so unexpected that it just rattled me and made me cry. It was like having my Grandma there with us, even before I hauled out some of her dishes to use for our family dinner, and it meant a lot to me.

 Hell, it’s making me sniffle right now. It’s got a place of honor on the cluttered china hutch, which needs to be cleaned, but it does belong with my treasures.

The other highlight of the day was Seamus’ gift. He’s been in the 4-H shooting club this year, and going hunting with me, and doing very well at it. He enjoys it and I’d like to encourage him in my sport. He’d asked for a gun for himself, but I could tell that he didn’t really expect to get one. After all, all of the guns are mine, even the pellet rifles.

But I did want to get him one, a nice single-shot that he could learn on. I found something better than that though; a youth gun with three different barrels, in .22LR, .243, and 20 gauge shotgun, all single-shot. He can learn a lot of different things on this one, and I can take him hunting with it. When he outgrows it, there will be kids behind him who can also learn with it, and maybe we can pass this love down through the generations with this tool.

 The look on his face when he opened it was priceless. I wasn’t quite quick enough with the camera, but it was the best and most surprised face I’ve ever seen on him, once he realized that it was a real gun.

 When things simmered down a little, we ran over the rules again, and he listened carefully, I showed him how to handle it safely and how to change the barrels. Neither of us can wait until we get out to the range to try it out. It needs a little cleaning first, but that’s easy enough to take care of. And a secret hidden bonus to this is that I now have a built-in birthday present for him, as the deer rifle barrel needs a scope still. Easy shopping!

All in all, a great Christmas. John promises not to run this new iPod through the laundry, I got to spend time with my family and my man, and burning the Brussels Sprouts wasn’t a big deal at all. Worth it, for the looks on their faces.