Friday's Freebie: Peace Rules the Day...

Today's Friday's Freebie has a very sentimental factor to it. 

Bear with me as I share a bit of family nostalgia with you...

I was a later-in-life child {a surprise, an oops, a caboose...whatever you'd like to call it}. All four of my grandparents passed away before I was born. But there was certainly no lack of grandparent-love in my life. Four special people stood in for my grandparents: Walter & Melba Hyde {whom I actually called "Grandma" & "Grandpa"...they were older neighbors who lived across the street from my childhood home}, my dear Aunt Helen on my dad's side... and one of my favorite ladies I'm proud to tell you about today: my Aunt Margaret, who was my maternal grandfather's sister. 

Aunt Margaret married later in life to Uncle Johnny but they never had their own children. My brothers and I were very much a part of their lives, though. Aunt Margaret was a sweet woman with a kind heart. She always had a smile on her face and kind things to say about everyone. I adored Sunday dinners with her leading the prayer in German as we all held hands around the table in the lavish dining room of the Crystal Baking Company in San Antonio...the dining room with the horses from the carousel that hung above our heads {it was quite a place}. She always insisted that I order the hot fudge sundae for dessert...we would each enjoy our own, which was served in a large fluted "fancy dish". I was fabulous at running around her beautiful wrap-around porch and clicking my Sunday shoes on the wood slats underneath me. I loved using her "Yardley of London" soap that was always in her guest bath. She had gorgeous vintage furnishings, that when I was young I thought of as "old-fashioned"...but now, I'd give my left arm to sit on her old Victorian Davenport. I remember always looking through all of her old photos from "the good old days". I have lots and lots of fond memories of her.

When Aunt Margaret died in 1994, she passed on her beautiful hope chest to me. Inside, it was filled with many, many memories. Two of my most cherished possessions came from that hope chest. One was Uncle Johnny's {stuffed} recipe box with hundreds of hand-written family favorites {my uncle was a well-known and loved baker at the old Manhattan Cafe in San Antonio...so take my word for it when I say there are some AMAZING recipe finds in that box}. The other item was the framed print below {in its original frame} that hangs in our master bathroom:

I read it every morning when I'm up getting ready. Such wise, wise words. And since owning this since 1994, I've never seen anything else with this quote on it. So, I decided to rectify that so more friends can have this same quote to gaze on and take to heart. Although there was so much in that hope chest, this and the recipe box are still very much a part of my daily life. They are treasures from long ago that I'm blessed to have a part of my world today.

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Please and thank you.

To download the below print {created for an 8x10 frame...but prints on letter-sized paper to be trimmed}, simply click on the image:

To see all of my free printables, click here.

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click here {includes extensive printing tips and ideas}.

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