We showed up at Nanny’s shortly after 11:00 a.m. for Thanksgiving. She has a very interesting home, that allows one to go from room to room in circles trying to see someone. About 45 minutes after we arrived, searching for the elusive Nanny, she arrived by the front door (a place Jim avoids because he knocks his head on the new chandelier every time he walks through the space.)
Nanny said she’d been looking for me and had to give me a family heirloom. She handed me a very heavy square jewelery box. I looked around for Jim and he was not to be found given a cursory glance.
When Jim was a youngster he got his first tool set. Not Fisher-Price, but a real child’s tool set. In the box was a C-clamp of red cast metal, with his name on it in gold letters. If we decorated at all, with a really sturdy tree, it would be a great ornament.
Aside from the desk set Nanny has promised me in her will (Jim built a cursory phone pad, pen and paper from wood at age five) it was one of the nicest gifts I’ve ever received! Thanks, Nanny.
And you wonder why she needed a surprise for her 82nd birthday. It’s great to have a grandmother. Both of mine died before I was a year old and the only thing I remember is the song, Blackbird. Pack up all your cares and woes…. Cheers to you this Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa season. Make a hearty breakfast for your guests. Dee
Cooking with Dee 
Jim says he had a hammer, maybe a saw, screwdriver, and pliers. Thank goodness Nanny saved something!