Back in the day Tobey received a ton of eagle knick-knacks for gifts. Now I know I have mentioned he is the hardest person on the planet to shop for and this is what I surmised happened. Tobey had a birthday. No one knew what the heck to get him. Someone bought him an "eagle perched on a tree branch with the flag billowing in the background in patriotic symbolism" piece of bric-a-brac and Tobey being Tobey said he liked it. Silly man.

After that for every birthday and Christmas: he got an eagle. When I finally moved in it was like a ding-dang aviary here. And come to find out, Tobey doesn't even like eagles. You will be thrilled to know that the gaggle of eagles has flown the coop. Thank the Lord. The same thing happened with him and green shirts. He got one and then every shirt he received as a gift after that was green and he doesn't like green!

Now my Mom, she collected elephant figurines and doo-dahs. She collected other things too but elephants were her passion. It all started when my Gran died and she had 3 itty-bitty jade green glass elephants that fell heir to Mom. When Mom died, she had zillions of elephants. Figurines. Luggage. Jewelry. Candles. Anything that could possible have an elephant slapped on it, she had.

Also when she died and still to this day, I have a hard time parting with anything that was hers. Whether I personally liked it or not. It was Mom's and if no one else wanted it then I did because the thought of the things she loved going to a garage sale or Salvation Army just killed me inside. Heck, some of her clothing I donated to the SA sat in bags in the back of the Shrek mobile for over 6 months because I simply couldn't give it away. And when I did I cried like a baby.

Pathetic I know.

So I have a few of Mom's elephants. And each Christmas I put up the tree she bought and never got to use and I decorate it with elephant ornaments. The first ornament came from Matt Damon and Lil Martha on that first, horrible Christmas without her. I blame them for all of this elephant tree stuff.

In keeping with tradition, our kids give us gifts that we don't need, want or would ever use or wear. That isn't to say we don't love our kids and their gifts but sometimes.....well...read on.

Somewhere along the line I got a pair of flocked elephant head earrings. Flocked! Wearing little red flocked Santa hats. Um. Yeah. Gee. Thanks. There is no way on earth I am ever going to wear those, my aren't they just lovely. And they have sat in my jewelry box for years. Until this Christmas when I had the bright idea to put them on Mom's elephant tree and they are so darling on that tree I still pat myself on the back to this day for thinking up that idea.

Since that first Christmas without Mom, I try and send Matt and Martha a elephant ornament as a remembrance of Mom. I don't know if they like it or not or if they are just being all "Tobey and the Eagle" about it all. Every year I scour the stores looking for elephant ornaments and folks they are few and far between. Not to mention ex-pen-sive.

But then I was shopping this week and found some cute elephant earrings on clearance at Kohl's and I thought they would look great on the tree this year. So I bought em. And then I happened to be at JoAnn Fabrics and spied some elephants in the jewelry making department. I snatched them up and headed over to Michael's too and bought even more!