It All Started With This Guy

Do you have things from your childhood that gave you joy just to look at? I did. I can look at the Christmas decorations that my Mom had up around the house every year for decades and I still feel those Christmas butterflies. I love Christmas. You all know that by now. Some of the things my Mom put up were from the store or some catalog or other. Some were made by her and some were made by others and given to us. We didn't have a ton of money when I was growing up. Our decorations were simple. And splendiferuos. One year when I was about 6 (I know this because Kim wasn't born yet) Mom brought out a Santa like this....(actually they are identical twins. I saw him on etsy and HAD to have him.) He is a jolly old elf and as kids we LOVED him. Mom also placed by his side 2 elves to help him out. They are the perfect companions for our jolly friend.
Every year when it was time to set up our Christmas wonderland these three would get top billing. As kids we decided that when we grew up I would get the Santa and Travis and Michelle would each get an elf. Of course, as kids, we didn't realize then that we would never break them apart. These three are a set...maybe they didn't come that way from their respective makers...but they were now a team. Whoever took one would have to have all three. As you know, I am an impatient person. I am given many opportunities to work on that....I'm also a slow learner. But...I didn't want to wait for Dad to be ready to part with any of Mom's treasures. So when I saw this Santa looking for a new home, I was happy to oblige. Then to put icing on that fabulous cake....I found these elves!! They too are the identical twins of the ones in my Mom's collection. Etsy was kind to me that day!! What started all this, you ask? Well, on a recent trip to Good Will I saw these two.
The plan from there was to find a Santa that was close to the one from my childhood and have a set of my own that was similar...but not identical. (Only because I never dared to hope that an identical set was out there!) So here is my new set. Not quite the same as the one from my childhood, but every bit as precious.