Contents of My Hope Chest -- Installment 2

Last September I made my first post about the contents of my hope chest...this is the next installment. I've actually collected quite a few items since then, so without any further ado, I shall begin. :)

First of all, baby booties knitted by my Lebanese grandmother. Aren't they CUTE!! She recently knitted several pairs, one to give to each of her grandchildren. Back when I was a baby, she knitted me a dress! That dress, with several other baby clothes my mom saved for me, are together in a baby hope box that my mom has packed over the years. These things are not in my hope chest (although the booties are), they are packed in that baby hope box, stashed in the garage somewhere. Anyway, here are the cutie booties!!

Quite a few years ago, when I was just a youngster, we got to be good friends with one of my dad's coworkers and his wife. The wife sewed this doll and its clothes for me. Obviously by this point I don't exactly play with dolls anymore, but I'm saving it to pass down to my daughter(s).

Don't laugh. Yes, those are toy pistols...don't you know, every buckaroo should have a pair of toy pistols?!! Actually, a friend was going through a bunch of toys her grandkids didn't want anymore, and was going to throw these away -- and I decided to save them for when I have a little cowboy to play with them.

Yep, it's a glass rabbit. I think it's pretty, don't you? It was given to me last Easter as a gift -- filled with jelly beans! Oh what decadence. Mmmm. Anyway, I cleaned it out and put it in my hope chest.
Christmas cookie cutters!! You never know when such things might come in handy! :)

This was a Christmas present from my parents. I first saw and picked out these dishes several months ago. You know how it is (or maybe you don't, but if you're like me you do), when you get excited going down the cookware aisles in WalMart because of all the pretty dishes and silverware... I knew I wanted something blue and white, because that's what I'm doing my kitchen in. And not only that, but they are break/chip resistant, dishwasher/microwave/oven safe, very sturdy, and lightweight! They're so perfect!! I had been hoping my parents were going to give them to me, if they hadn't given them to me I would've bought them myself for my hope chest. Aren't they lovely? This set is service for 4.

This was also a Christmas present, from my Aunt G this time. A CrockPot!! Woohoo!! You see, once my grandmother, Nana, and aunt G found out that I have a hope chest, they've gotten pretty excited about giving me stuff for it. In fact, when I first told Nana about it, she got so excited!! She said, "I didn't know girls these days still did hope chests!" She had a hope chest when she was a girl, and she and Aunt G have been happily giving me stuff. Nana is going to be handing down to me some dishes that were her mother's, and Aunt G gave me this CrockPot and the pots in the next photo, and will be giving me some glasses later on. I'm so blessed!!

Oh wait, what is she doing in the photo??!! Skeeter was trying her best to be helpful...or not. Right before this picture, she had just walked through all the pots, putting a paw in each. Oh yes, I'll be cleaning those pots before I use them!! ;)

Aren't they lovely pots and pans? They are Calphalon brand, nice, sturdy, nonstick cookware.

I am very blessed. Abundantly blessed. Like, can't-fit-it-all-in-my-hope-chest blessed. Literally. My mama snapped this of me while I was working to figure out the puzzle and get everything in without anything sticking up or being bent or smushed. Not an easy task. Like I said, I am very blessed to have so much stuff I can't fit it all in my hope chest.
I finally managed to fit it all in there, with the exception of the sunbonnet sue cakepan. That will have to go in the hope box. Yes, there is a separate box, one to contain the dishes and glasses that Nana and Aunt G are going to give me, as well as a few other items as I accumulate them. My hope chest just isn't big enough. Which, you might say, doesn't seem like it would be so because it looks like there is quite a bit of extra room -- however, if you notice, there are long strips of wood on the underside of the lid. These, obviously, sit down in the chest a little ways -- so you can't put stuff all the way up to the top. Not really convenient, but it makes the lid stronger, and since I like sitting on the lid (at the moment, though, there are boxes and stuff piled on the top), I like the lid strong. So that's that, and the sunbonnet sue cakepan, the dishes, the glasses, and whatever else I get between now and then that's not small enough to fit in, will go in the second hope box (third, if you count the baby hope box). Am I blessed or what??!!

Just as one last thought before I finish -- I know I've neglected this blog a little, and I promise to do better. I still have this private blog for the same reasons that I originally made it, to be able to post things that I can't on my public one. So never fear, I shall return :)

Hope y'all have had a blessed New Year!!