~TREASURED KEEPSAKES and Finding Peace in All Things~

NAPCO SHOPPER GIRL
Dressed in Green w/ Poodle
"Spaghetti Trim"

When I was a little bitty girl my Grandparents lived up the hill from our 900sf track home. Their home, a mirror image of ours, had the same dividing mantle that separated the tiny dining room from the single living area. Every Christmas my Grandmother decorated her mantle with the same lovely treasures and I don't recall a year when I did not see her beautiful Napco Shopper Girls appear for the holiday season. One was red. One green. One white. Each Girl was dressed to the nines, carried sweetly packaged gifts and came with a tiny poodle dog tethered to the wrist.

Secretly I longed to take one home. The color didn't matter. I loved them all.

Years passed. While I wasn't looking my Grandmother grew older and I grew up. It would be many, many years before I would remember even the existence of the long forgotten ladies with their full skirts and wide-brimmed bonnets and even longer before I cared...

NAPCO SHOPPER GIRL
Dressed in White w/ Poodle
"Rabbit Fur Trim"

In June of 2008 my beloved 91 year old Grandmother spent an entire month with me here in Oklahoma. Long blinded by Glaucoma, the essence of who she was and what she loved remained unchanged. We shared many long, meaningful conversations and she talked non-stop about her grandchildren and how proud she was of each one us. She adored my Miss K (her great-great grandchild) and spoke of how I had become a "Young Nana" just like she had become a "Young Gramma!" We laughed and giggled through the day, listened to books on tape and reminisced about the days when she was young and I was younger.

One afternoon when there was a lull in our chatter I decided to retrieve from their hiding place the four Shopper Girls that I'd stored away for safe keeping. Placing the largest one in her hands I asked her if she knew what it was...

~NAPCO SHOPPER GIRL~
Dressed In Red - Planter
Dressed in Green - Planter
"Original Flowers"

I watched as she carefully turned the the first figurine over and over, touching and feeling what her blinded eyes could no longer see. After only a few moments she smiled at me and said~

"Oh my! This is one of the Shopper Girls I use to have on my mantle when you were a little girl! I remember how much you loved them! I always wondered what happened to them! How long have you had them now?"

Purposefully avoiding her question, we talked a while longer as she held each aging figurine for a few seconds more. "Those were my best days!" she continued. She went on to say that she and my Grandfather had purchased the Girls at Gemco (like an early K-Mart) for about $3.50 each around the year I was born (that would be 1958).

I was able to tell my Grandmother that summer afternoon that my love for the Shopper Girls was not based on their beauty, but because of the warm memories they represented of my childhood. I told her how much I loved her and what a fabulous Gramma she had always been! I promised to fly her out for Christmas and that I would have the Shopper Girls displayed in my home, showcasing them in her honor.

Four months later she went to heaven. We buried her just before Christmas in December 2008.

What my Gramma didn't know was that the Shopper Girls she held that day were not the ones that had originally belonged to her. Long misplaced or given away, my Mr. AGPMan had purchase the ones I now own off eBay.

How grateful I am for that moment when I placed those dainty little Girls within her aging hands. It's enough for me to know the lingering scent of my Grandmother's grace and the memory of her love remain upon the Shopper Girls that now call my La Chaumiere de Briarwood home.

Blessings to you as you remember and honor your loved ones this Christmas...Rebecca