Tipper Pressley Shares Two Special Christmas Memories & A GIVEAWAY!!

"For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon His shoulder: and His name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace."  

Isaiah 9:6 (KJV)

Guest Post #2

"A Memorable Christmas Ornament" 
by Tipper Pressley

"Most of my Christmas ornaments are handmade by Granny. The girls' elementary school was big on ornament making, so I also have more than a few that were made by them in school. And I have store bought ornaments that have special meaning, like the silver balls with the girls names and birth date engraved on them.

It would be hard for me to pick a favorite ornament. I love the crocheted white stars Granny made and the chubby cherubic faces of the girls on some of their school ornaments. But near the top of my favorites list is an ornament that was supposed to be a joke. 

When my husband and I were first married, we didn't have the many ornaments we do today. Thinking he'd play a good joke on me he made an ornament out of an old spark plug and hung it on the tree. He figured I wouldn't see it until I was taking the tree down, but I noticed it right away. 

He was surprised when I told him I loved the spark plug ornament and planned to use it every Christmas. 

For whatever reason, my husband making the spark plug ornament is one of my favorite Christmas memories, and all these years later I'm still putting it on the Christmas tree."

"Granny's Special Christmas Memory"
as told to Tipper by "Granny" (Tipper's mother)

"The other evening I stopped by Granny's after work like I usually do. I've taken to carrying a notebook with me every time I visit so I can ask her to tell me a story and write it down. That evening I said "Tell me a Christmas story about when you were a little girl." Granny said "Well you know the one about the year mother cut down the holly tree for a Christmas tree because I wrote about it in my poetry book."

I told her I remembered that one, but always wondered if Granny Gazzie didn't miss the tree being in the yard. Granny said "No it didn't come out of the yard, it come from way up in the woods behind Shady Grove Church. I reckon mother knew it was there, it was a good size one, and went up there and cut it down herself and brought it home. Although my brother always tells me it was our older brother George who cut it down and brought it home. I still think it was mother."

I said I bet it was pretty with red berries and Granny said "No it didn't have no berries on it at all. We decorated it with what we had and it was a pretty sight. I'll tell you a story I've never told another living soul in all these years. Mother always got each of us a bag of candy and since we didn't get much candy we really looked forward to it. That year I went to bed with my shoes and clothes on so I could be the first one up to get the candy. See, I wanted to steal some of the other's candy and put it my bag so I'd have the most. It was way in the night and I got up and tiptoed into the room. No one heard me up and nobody got up to check on me either. I got one piece of candy out of a bag and realized it just wasn't worth the feeling I had of guilt. Then I got scared. Thinking of all my family that I loved so much in the bed asleep while I was up trying to be a robber scared me bad. I went and got back in the bed and never did tell no one about what I had almost done. None of them knew that I had been up at all and the next morning we were all together and happy for Christmas."

As Granny told me the story I smiled at the thought of a little girl thinking of herself as a robber. I asked Granny how old she was when it happened. Granny said she was in first grade."

Bio:  Tipper is the author of the Blind Pig & The Acorn blog, where she shares her love for preserving and celebrating Appalachia.  She is crazy in love with her home in Appalachia-the people, the food, the music, the colorful language, the sustainable lifestyle, the history, the soaring mountains, and the deep dark hollers.  She loves to garden and preserve the bounty her family grows; she plays the bass in the family band; she is a wannabe folk artist; she teaches Appalachian Cooking Classes at The John C. Campbell Folk School and other locales, and of course she writes.  You can connect with her on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, Pinterest, and her Etsy Shop.

Tipper is kindly offering a special giveaway for our readers!

She is giving away a copy of Pap (her Dad) & Paul's (her brother's) Christmas CD!!!!!!

If any of you are Blind Pig & The Acorn readers, you already know what a treasure this is!

Tipper is giving away one copy, and if anyone else would like to order a CD, please visit Tipper's Etsy Shop!

To enter the giveaway, just leave us a comment below.
If you are an anonymous commenter and you would like to enter the giveaway, please include your contact information in your comment.  Otherwise, you won't be able to enter the giveaway, as we have no way of knowing who you are or contacting you.
Offer is for US residents only, due to shipping costs.  😢

Zach will draw a winner one week from today on December 10th, so please hurry and leave your comment below!!  You don't want to miss your chance to win this amazing CD!!

Many blessings to you all and a big thanks to Tipper and Granny for sharing their Christmas memories with us!

Here is a sample of the beautiful harmony you will hear on the CD!


It Came Upon the Midnight Clear by Paul & Jerry Wilson

And, as a special bonus, here is a video of Tipper's two sweet twin daughters, The Pressley Girls, singing "Christmas Time's A Coming!"

Christmas Time's A Coming - The Pressley Girls

In case you missed them, you can read previous Christmas Memory Sharing Posts by clicking these links:
Christmas from the Dumpster
Matthew Timmons Shares his Heart this Christmas