A charming gift

My mother put a lot of creativity and thoughtfulness into the gifts that she gave to me and my sister for Christmas. One of the things she gave each of us was a charm bracelet made from charms that she and my grandmother had collected over the years. I hate to single out a favorite gift, but this one was so special, it deserves top billing!

Along with the bracelet she gave us a list of what each charm on our bracelet represented or gave the history of it. As you will see from the list below, she chose each charm carefully and lovingly divided them between both of her daughters (I added some side notes in italics):

Charms Collected by Your Mom
Given to Nanette
Christmas 2010

1. Girl silhouette from Maw-Maw's grandchildren bracelet
2. "Try God" charm bought at Tiffany's; a gift from your dad to your mom
3. New York World's Fair 1964-65 (my parents lived on Long Island during that time)
4. United States Military Academy (we had friends who served as campus ministers at West Point and my dad would sometimes preach at the church that was held on campus)
5. Drama Glasses; reminiscent of your drama/communication skills
6. Whale from Hawaii (my parents took a trip to Hawaii for their 25th anniversary and I lived in Hawaii for three months after graduating from college)
7. Epsilon Alpha Gamma:  represents the Hypation Literary Society your mom was a part of at Carson-Newman College
8. Maine; visited by your mom during the 60s
9. "We love 'Ancy," given to your mom by Vander and Jane Warner in appreciation for her babysitting Sherri and Vanda. They called her "Ancy."
10. Maryland; birthplace of your mom, Jeanette and you
11. Piano (our family has almost always had a piano and my sister and I took piano lessons for several years)
12. Trumpet (I started to learn how to play trumpet in the 5th grade band, but didn't last longer than six months)
13. Blue Bonnet from Texas, where your mom went to seminary
14. Women's Missionary Union of Maryland; where your mom was employed from 1961-1964. They owned Camp Wo-Me-To where you spent some summer weeks at camp (and as a counselor)