"You got them what?!"
"Is that all that you got them?!"
"You got them all that?!"
"Why'd you get them that?!"
"Well, I got my kids...."
"You should have/shouldn't have *blah blah blah*... because *blah blah blah*."
Plus, it just ain't polite to go listing off gifts.
However, this Christmas, I'm sharing with the blog world the gift I got. Because I'm just so darn tickled with it!
First, you have to understand that I usually don't get gifts. Christmases, birthdays, anniversaries... they all come and go without much ado. Which is okay with me. Really. Josh got very lucky when he married me. See, he doesn't shop. Ever. (Well, almost ever. As you're about to read, he does occasionally give in.) And I'm not big on getting gifts. I'd rather watch a hundred other people each open a gift than have to open one myself. So when Josh and I ended up happily ever after, it really was a perfect match.
But this year was different. It really all started a couple years ago when Josh found an old steel wheel in our ditch. We're not sure exactly what it was from. Probably a wagon or something, but I was pretty excited because, well, I like old stuff.
The summer after that, he found an old set of running gears in another ditch in the back of the farm. We're not one hundred percent sure of the story, but pretty certain that it came from Josh's Grandpa Elmer in his early early days of farming. For some reason or another, they got ditched (literally) until Josh found them while fencing one day. He unburied it and drug it home for a surprise. I was pretty happy because, well... I like old stuff. Especially family's old stuff with a story. Josh has done enough research on the serial number he found on the set of running gears that he's pretty sure the make, model and year of the set and he plans on restoring them to original, but with an added flower box on it for me! It'll set on an already decided upon area of our yard to spruce it up a bit.
After finding these goodies, I told him that what I always really wanted was an old one bottom plow. We had a couple hits on a few, but they were at auction sales and were way out of my budget (my budget being as close to free as I can get). At the last auction (the one I got Elsie from), Josh ran into an old school buddy, Doug, and while catching up, we learned that he owns and operates a business in Ottumwa that buys and sells unique old stuff. After watching the plows at this particular auction go for way too much (even Doug said so... and he's an expert!), he said that he had a few plows at his store we could choose from and he'd give us a decent deal. (From what I understand, he does kinda what the American Picker fellas do: he finds places to "pick", gets items at a deal cost and then brings them home to sell to buyers at a profit. Josh says his place is really cool and if one was into old stuff, they could spend all day just looking. I am totally planning a day trip sometime soon to do just that: spend all day looking. But it'll have to be when the weather decides to warm up a bit!) Anyway...
I was glad to know that these plows were still around and put it in the back of my mind on my mental to-do list to get "someday". But Josh, bless his great big ol' sweet li'l' lovin' heart, had other plans....
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| It's not the bestest picture ever. It was C.O.L.D... COLD!! And as pleased as I was with the plow, Josh and I both were eager to get back in to the warmth of our living room! In the foreground of the picture is the hitch where the horses would have been hitched up to it. Then the plow itself. What makes this really unique are the handles, which are wood with a natural curve in it to make the spot where one would have held to walk along behind the plow doing the field work. I'm sure when it's all arranged in the yard this Spring and I can take pictures in the comfort of anything above frigid temperatures (and thus being able to focus the camera and not have it be violently shaking by my miserable cold body), they'll be a better view of it to get an idea of it's coolness factors. |
You know you're about to receive something good when your gift has to be brought to the house in the loader of a tractor! Which is just what Josh did. We spent Christmas day as a family and decided to open gifts after morning chores so we would have plenty of time through the noon hour to enjoy it before Josh had to go back out to finish the day's work. Well, when it's as cold as it was with as much snow as we had, it takes a while to get through all the cattle chores. But a little before 11, the kids and I heard the tractor coming up the drive way and then had a request from Josh, who was then on the porch, for me not to look but to get him something to cover up the big secret with. His request was granted and after putting away the tractor, closing up shop and cleaning up a bit once inside, we set to sharing our gifts to one another.
Truth be told, I already knew what it was. One day, Josh informed me that he had to go to town to get my gift, that it was something I really wanted. Well, he went in the truck and wearing his work coveralls. Of the very (very) few things that I really want(ed), there was only one thing that could have been gotten while he was wearing his coveralls and in the farm truck. I knew I knew and he knew I knew, but we had great fun the three or four days leading up to Christmas playing the game of surprise. We've set the plow in a tentative spot for now. We'll have to finish setting it just right this Spring when the ground thaws. I can't wait to get started on the flower bed around it!
By the way (and not to brag or anything), I was actually doubly blessed this Christmas. Loren and Rhonda gifted me with a study Bible. Two gifts in one year... I'm set for the next few birthdays, anniversaries and Christmases, I'd say!
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