The End.....of the Give Away "Goodies"

"Once upon a time there were four little rabbits, and their names were-

Flopsy, Mopsy, Cotton-tail, and Peter...."

Beatrix Potter

Well, dear readers, we have come to the last post for the Give Away "goodies" today. It makes me a little sad to leave so many book memories untouched, like the beloved Little House, Anne of Green Gables, and Elsie Densmore series, all of which I cherish. Also, what about all those wonderful fairy tales, especially those by Hans Christian Anderson. Then there is Heidi, Pollyanna, and The Color Kittens, plus oh so many more! I can't possibly cover them all, so I have had to pick and choose the books and items that speak to me at the moment and let them tell the stories.

I just could not leave out one beloved author and illustrator from my book memories or resist tucking a memento into the ''goodie" stash that represents her. She is, Beatrix Potter, the author and illustrator of Peter Rabbit and many other wonderful and whimsical stories. The "goodie" is a little Peter Rabbit Birthday Book. This little volume will help you to record and remember special days and dates or it could be used as a mini diary. Each of the 365 days are listed with three blank lines underneath for recording. It also includes 62 illustrations by Beatrix Potter from her famous stories. It is a charming little volume.
I don't remember the exact moment that I was introduced to Beatrix Potter only that it was love at first sight in the form of a naughty little red squirrel named Nutkin! This was my favorite story and I was enthralled by the illustrations in this book. I had a tiny soft cover version of this book, it was a little pocket size book and I took it everywhere.

I thought I knew where Old Brown the owl lived. I was certain that he lived on the little island in the middle of the river over which we crossed to go the capitol city of our state where we often went shopping. I was equally sure that the little band of red squirrels lived on the nearest shore and that if we didn't go so swiftly across the river bridge that I might just be able to catch a glimpse of them building their little stick boats or sailing across to gather nuts. I would beg to slow down or stop so I could see these wonderful squirrels who could build boats, sail, and gather nuts in little sacks. Once my step-father humored my vivid imagination and pulled down the ramp to the boat launch across from the little island and he let me scour the shore for signs of the little squirrel band. He thought this would be the end of my insistence but after looking around I stood with my hands on my hips and declared, "Well, I guess we just missed them, but NEXT time we'll catch them!" He kind of groaned and looked a little exasperated, kind of like there would not be a next time if he could help it. As happens to all children, I grew up and knew this childhood belief to be just a wishful thinking on my part but that naughty little squirrel never lost his appeal for me.
Now my daughter loved another set of naughty characters, Two Bad Mice. She loved the part where the mice try to eat the food and the fish would not come off the plate so the mice put it into the red paper fire in the kitchen, but it would not burn. She would always exclaim, "Silly mice, don't they know that paper fire is not real." and she would giggle. She always liked that Tom was not really such a bad mouse after all, as he found some money under a rug and on Christmas Eve he stuffed it into the dolls stockings to pay for the damage they had done and Hunca Munca came every morning with her little broom and dustpan to sweep up the doll house. She always justified the taking of the cradle by the ending picture of Hunca Munca rocking her little mice babies to sleep in it, she would say, "Mama, they needed that little cradle for all those tiny babies or they would have to sleep on the cold hard floor."

She was equally as sure that these same two bad mice payed visits to her dollhouse at night when she was asleep as I was about the squirrels. She kept a little yellow flash light by her bed and she would lie still with light in hand thinking she could quickly turn it on and catch them in the act. She never did but she thought she may have seen their shadow as they hid behind the stairs. She is all grown up now and these two bad mice have never lost their appeal to her, just mention Beatrix Potter and she will quickly tell you what her favorite story is.

This brings us to the last item to go into the "goodie" box, in honor of the ATC swap at Creative Swaps, I am enclosing a Mother Goose ATC of The Three Little Kittens. The front features the kittens rolling in the balls of yarn from which their mittens are made. The inside is a pop-up with a charming little scene of the little kittens surrounded by soap suds and glittering soap bubbles as they happily wash their soiled mittens.
I hope you have enjoyed reading these memories as much as I have enjoyed recounting them. Thank you all so much for your kind comments.

Blessings,

Miss Sandy

Photos: Sculptors of Flopsy, Mopsy, Cotton-tail, and Peter; Give Away item - Peter Rabbit Birthday Book; Squirrel Nutkin and Two Bad Mice illustrations by Beatrix Potter; Give Away item - Three Little Kittens ATC