Dean Poling

Early in their marriage, the young couple gave each grandmother a Christmas blanket.

A different Christmas blanket for each grandmother.

A blanket with an angel went to his maternal grandmother. A winter scene blanket went to her paternal grandmother. A Santa Claus blanket went to his paternal grandmother. A nativity scene blanket went to her maternal grandmother.

The couple was starting out. They wanted to give as many presents to as many relatives as they could afford. She thought the Christmas blankets would be a nice gift for the grandmothers. A warm present for cold winter mornings or memorable decorations for Christmas times to come.

In the coming Christmases, the couple noticed the blankets either folded by a living room chair or displayed over a couch. One grandmother hung hers as a wall decoration during the holidays.

As Christmases passed, the young couple grew a family of their own. Their grandmothers were great-grandmothers. They visited their grandmothers to bring Christmas presents or eat a holiday meal or just to visit for a spell.

The blankets were a part of each Christmas at their grandmothers’ homes.

The first blanket to return was the Santa Claus blanket. His paternal grandmother passed away a few years into the couple’s marriage. In determining who received what, the Christmas blanket naturally went back to the couple since they bought it for her.

The couple displayed the Santa Claus blanket in their home each following Christmas.

Years later, the second blanket to return was the winter scene blanket at the passing of her paternal grandmother.

The couple displayed the Santa Claus blanket and the winter scene blanket in their home each following Christmas.

Years later, the third blanket to return was the angel blanket at the passing of his maternal grandmother.

The couple displayed the Santa Claus blanket, the winter scene blanket and the angel blanket in their home each following Christmas.

Years later, the last blanket to return was the nativity scene blanket at the passing of her maternal grandmother.

The Santa Claus blanket, the winter scene blanket, the angel blanket and the nativity scene blanket have been a part of the couple’s Christmases every year since.

The couple is older now, with children grown and gone, and grandchildren of their own.

But each year the Christmas blankets remind them of their childhoods and their time as a young couple and of their grandmothers.

Gifts are purchased for others, some times for a holiday, some times to remind the recipient of the giver who loves them.

Sometimes, those gifts return to the giver – never planned but welcomed upon their sad return – to remind us of loved ones no longer with us at Christmas and other times of the year.

And we realize those special people were gifts in our lives as warm, as cheery and as loving as being wrapped in Christmas blankets

Dean Poling is editor of The Tifton Gazette. and an editor with The Valdosta Daily Times.