ties

a few days after christmas this year, my cousin lisa gave me a box that was left out of the gift pile on christmas eve. i sat in my parents' living room and opened it-- pushed aside the tissue paper, and found a beautiful crocheted bag, lined with satin. it was clearly a wedding item. once i'd opened and admired it, lisa told me the story of the bag.

my grandmother made the bag for lisa to carry on her wedding day 14 years ago. according to my mom and my aunts, my grandmother made these bags for all of her daughters and granddaughters to carry on the day of their wedding- small satin drawstring bags with dainty crocheted details. my mom and her sisters used their bags for collecting cards as they greeted people at the reception and lisa used hers for her personal items that day. i had no idea these bags existed or that my grandmother had made even one, let alone many. when lisa passed on this gift she gave me a chance to be a part of a family tradition that easily could have faded away. grandma would be proud: to her, family was everything.