Heirloom in the making

[joette]

Hopefully this heirloom in the making will hold the second generation again in February with the birth of my youngest niece's first baby.

It was bought thirty three years ago when my eldest sister & her husband were expecting their first child.It is a dark wooden cradle.It has housed all of my nieces & nephews barring the niece who is about to give birth as my two sisters gave birth within twelve hours of each other.They range in age from 32 down to three & three greats have already slept in it.
The cradle was beautifully draped with canopy,drapes & quilt cover sewn by my youngest sister.A blanket hand knitted by my Aunt in the USA was added for the second baby.They were each swaddled in a shawl knitted by my Mum.I knitted one shawl & three blankets as my Mum's arthritic fingers can no longer do the job-although each eldest child of the three branches have a hand-knitted shawl by Granny which have been lovingly preserved by their Mothers.Two are in the US with my Great-Nephews-one which was his Daddy's & the other carefully & painfully knitted by Great-Granny.
This cradle was not made by a craftsman-it was expensive at the time but it has been lovingly looked after & has nestled each small child in it's embrace.My younger sister
has replaced the drapings over the years & it looks cozy & inviting.It can be rocked to settle a fractious baby or have a divot placed(the orignal replaced by my sister's joiner hubby) to hold it stationary.

It brings a smile to my face & happy anticipation at the expected arrivals who have filled that spot.Some now producing their own generation.
Now we do have "family heirlooms"-my Great-Granny's sewing machine ,the Roslin Rifle Vols pewter jug presented to John Scott,my Dad's first "piggy bank" - a wooden stool with the engraving-"Our wee John is no fool he puts his pennies in this stool,family papers & photos.
The cradle is an heirloom in the making as between babies it resides in my eldest sister's attic.
What heirlooms "in the making" or indeed precious ones do you have?

[Russell]

Hi Joette
I love to hear stories of family items, some of which may have little or no value in themselves, but have been embraced (I was going to say cradled ) by generations as part of 'being a family'.
I have a globe shaped pottery bank with my uncle's name (George Oman Young) engraved on it. He died in 1909 when he was only 5 1/2 but it stayed on my grandmother's mantel shelf all of her married life. When she died in 1966 I was more interested in my job/scooter/social life than family history but when my mother and aunt were going to throw it out I was horrified. In the upheaval of clearing Grans house the bank got broken so I spent hours piecing it back together again so now it sits on my bedroom window ledge as a reminder of my heritage. My great grandfather was a professional photographer. None of his photos were thrown out. I have never been able to figure out why they seemed to be more important to the family than the piggy bank
The crib sounds lovely and is surely helping maintain a traditional way of loving and caring for children. At least no one has marketed an electronic version which rocks the baby only when it cries.

Russell