Festive True Fairy Tales
Tell us the story behind one of your winter holiday ornaments/keepsakes/traditions. Ask seniors if they have a family story. Ask children what they think of the ornaments you have. You might be surprised ...what is terrifying, confusing or enchanting. What do you remember from childhood?
$600 worth of prizes
Just 100 words or less. Prize of $100 for the funniest, most touching , and the best idea for a decoration/tradition that will remind you, and perhaps generations of your family to come, of 2020. (We might even make it for you.)
Good Earth Natural Foods is also offering $200 of groceries for the most touching. And Costco has added $100 for a 2020 memento. ( I wonder how many toilet rolls that would buy)
To add a story, please email team@goodfairy.org or give Fairyland a ring on (415) 488-6594 and ask to relate it by phone. Add a photo if you can, we can help with that too. Entries in by now extended to JAN 1st Winners announced soon after.
It was YOU.
An extra story from a nurse in Greenbrae ....which is too late to enter but is an absolute scream so included
It happened a few years ago when nurse was about 35 yrs. At a holiday gathering, a lady said : " Oh Kai, YOU were my best Christmas.'.
The nurse couldn’t think what she meant. It turned out Kai had been baptized during the Christmas service at her church one year. An August baby, she would have been about 4 months old. The lady had been a small child in the congregation. She was feeling v sad as her Dad was away and it was a miserable year but she just loved the baby. Kai’s Mom let her come close and hold her. It was magical.
And then Kai’s Mom said: “Why don’t you keep her for a day?”
And they did. The lady and her Mom took the baby home with them for Christmas. It was the best Christmas ever. Kai’s Mom picked her up that night. !!!!
Kai, Petaluma
Warm Tamales Warm up my Christmas and Gave the Scale a Boost
When I was a child, I loved to watch my mom make tamales. I was a fairly skinny boy, but when the holidays came around the pounds would go up.I was the first one to try everything and I even tricked my mom into giving me a few meals early so I could “make sure it tasted good.”
I enjoyed the holiday foods so much, I decided to make a business out of it. My elder neighbors would ask me to grind their grains in exchange for some of their treats. This, along with playing on the fields, helped lose off the holiday weight. My family could not afford any presents or trips, so the warm drinks and snacks I would get fulfilled the holiday. The bright orange mandarins and yellow like the sun lemons decorated our tree. Not only was it beautiful, but it would make a great snack after the holidays.
I now make tamales during the holidays, enjoy spending the time with my family, and make sure the family back at home helps my mother with the Christmas dinner.
Gilmar, San Rafael
It was Christmas Eve in New Orleans. ( 1950) My 5 year-old-mind was awash with excitement! My parents were out having fun...and so were we. What else was there to do but play hide 'n seek, outside in the street, @ night? The four of us: 2 sisters and a brother. It must have been quite late for I was exhausted from all that running and shrieking. What absolute fun! So my brother called it quits and upon walking back to our wee house, I glanced across St.
Charles St at all the fancy houses lit up. Then a movement...cautious, at best...up on the house top..Santa! SANTA! Seriously, Santa!! A moving, living Santa! I stood agape, transfixed. He walked cautiously across the roof top, turned and looked, then stepped down the roof's back and out of sight.
...just as clear as could be on that cold, crisp Eve. I'm sure of it. Everyone else had gone in...I'm the only lucky one.
After hearing my story, my mother found me a plastic Santa with a sack on his back to put candy canes in and hang on the tree. My first Christmas ornament.
I'm sitting here, sipping my tea, and looking at that ornament, much older now, a little bit of paint missing but with the original string, twinkling in the colored lights of Christmas.. .remembering...
Peace to All,
Good Fairy Melinda
I do so bless you for your kind work. Hopefully, from all this sadness, others will take up the torch and help us help others...
This is my hope for the New Year...
Faith ...and Joy
This year was a year of firsts for so many reasons but focusing on our baby Faith ( who celebrated her first Christmas holiday ) we decided to start new traditions for the holiday. One for our family inside the home, others to reach out to the community.
Inside ..
We also turned one of this years' presents into an annual tradition for inside our home. Let me tell you about it. My mother passed when I was just 8 and a lovely woman “ adopted” me as her own and lovingly named me her goddess daughter. This year she gifted one of our daughters a fairy light kit. We decorated it and added some details to it. We wrote wishes and added them. We choose to turn into our special yearly ornament because this year we were blessed with fairies that became family, and we were given the gift of hope for brighter days.
Outside..
We spent our days before holiday creating gifts for others..Christmas cards and thank you cards from scratch, ornaments and hand made wreaths. ( note from Fairyland ..yes they did and we got a beautiful card!). We felt it was important for our kids to feel how wonderful it is to give from the heart to express your creative side with love to people you miss to people you want to show love to .
It was magical , there was a huge learning curve doing all the crafting!!! but it was so well received. So yearly we will also continue to do this.
We spent part of our holiday singing to others including participating in the Good Fairy festive singing 'fairies on the phone' and even took a video which we shared with dear ones despite our insecurities!
As well as decking out our house as much as we could, we and put together a basket for our postal workers with treats guarded by Joy the reindeer to show our appreciation. See Joy in the picture, the basket is ..empty as the treats were good lol ..
Christina, Terra Linda
Oh Christmas Tree....
My Great Aunt's parents gave her a miniature Christmas tree one year. It had candles on the ends of the branches and a star on top. They all light up when placed on a lightbulb that shines through. She treasured it. And she left it to me. Every year I collect an additional miniature ornament to add to the ones my Aunt left me with the tree.
Margueritte, Fairfax
Margueritte also asked her friends for their stories. The one was related to her by her good neighbor as they sat on the roof !!! eating snacks on New Years' day. A nice touch, she brought the flowers which arrived with her Good Fairy holiday meal up to roof with them!
A very pizza Christmas
Should I say the coldest winter in 1000 years or just an average snowfall in Colorado.
It Was the first Christmas for little 5 month old Carolyn. She had received a sled which was the first present opened, just one mind you on Christmas Eve.
In the afternoon the snow piled high, closing down icy roads, making Moms shopping for Christmas Eve dinner impossible. Stuck between home and the store, she started her way slowly back.
Expected guests would not be able to get through either. With a heavy heart their gathering was canceled.
Snowed in
Truly a very white Christmas.
Dad like Santa's elves was very clever, he bundled little five month old Carolyn and secured her on the sled and pulled her on the sled to the pizza parlor in the next block. Carolyn had a warm pizza box like an electric blanket for the return ride home where mom was now waiting.
By Margueritte's neighbor ...and Dad in the story
Turkey
Margarette added ' I checked with a friend in her 90s but all she kept saying was they always cooked a turkey, so that didn't sound very interesting'. Which had Fairyland roaring with laughter ...so thank you for that. We love you Margueritte!!
Grandfather's pink box
My Grandfather was an unpublished writer. He was just my favorite person and wrote wonderful stories about me and my brother. One year I was working at a printing company. They mainly did things like business cards.
It came to Christmas and I decided to make 'Biography Boxes' for all my family. The outsides were decorated with collages, of related to their life. Inside the gifts reflecting what they love. My Grandma loved baking and sewing, for example, so hers contained a gingerbread man and a miniature rolling pin.
My Grandfather was last to open his box. Deliberately arranged. Everyone in the family was in on the secret. His was a plain pink box with question on it. Inside there was a book.
His book.
Everyone in the family had collected and recalled the stories he had given or told them and I'd had them published in a proper book..it even had his photo on it. He loved it. This was my best Christmas. He was about 70 then, and the truly magical thing is he started publishing his work from then on. And in the last 10 yrs of his life he became what he always wanted to be, a published writer in multiple magazines, especially The Readers Digest.
There was an extra story of giving behind this. This was long before the days of self publishing. It was incredibly expensive to produce a book. But every single person in the printing company loved the idea and they all chipped in, from the owners to the typesetter, giving their time for free and paying for all the materials. They made 50 copies. All treasured forever by friends and family.
Katherine, Mill Valley
From Easter Eggs to Christmas Ornaments
As a child I was mesmerized by 3 dimensional Easter eggs made from sugar crystals
with bunnies, chickens and mystery in them. My mother was a thrifty Scot and there was little chance of receiving one of these in my Easter Basket.
About 20 years ago Martha Stewart featured naturally pale blue and green eggs on the cover of her magazine which brought back those nostalgic memories! I was hooked and started
making them and selling them and much to my surprise people bought them as Xmas ornaments.
The eggs transformed into small oval boxes and took off much to my delight! The now feature Alice in Wonderland, Frida Kahlo, woodland animals, antique miniature dolls, the Eiffel Tower and many traditional Xmas images. When I look back at my work this past year it brings back nostalgia of the folks I have met along the way and the creativity and fun I have had as well as a sense of belonging to an artist community.
It's also been a great challenge in loss of income which. I haven't thrown in the towel yet and am hoping for a better 2021!
Lynea, Larkspur
Impulse Purchase
A senior gentleman from Corte Madera was passing a store in San Francisco during the holidays one year. His eye was drawn to a Christmas tree ornament in the window. He has a passion for architecture and it was beautifully made. On a whim, and quite out of character he bought it.
Since then, for about twenty years, he has displayed it on his front door during the holidays to say ' Merry Christmas' to any folks passing by who celebrate Christmas.
He himself is Jewish.
Gentleman in Corte Madera - we don't have permission to add his name. ( related to Good Fairy by phone.)
The 50 yr old Angel
I have a red and gold foil wrapping paper Angel that I made 50 years ago on my daughter's first Christmas.
We had no money for presents or ornaments so we decorated the free tree her daddy brought home at the last minute with some ribbon and wrapped boxes with coupons for future gifts like babysitting from our dear friend who came to stay and help with our new baby.
Nowadays, she gets displayed with other favorite ornaments near my "baby" tree that gets brought out of its special box each year as I live in a small apartment.
Marilena, Fairfax
Popcorn and Cranberries
When Fairyland asked our cherished one and only 112yr old fairy, Pauline, if she had an ornament story. She didn't think she had. We asked what she remembers from childhood Christmases and it was pretty strange to realize she was thinking back to events from over a hundred years ago.
Her father was one of the original homesteaders in Oklahoma, living in land also occupied by American Indians. She was the middle child of seven. They had a Christmas tree each year but she didn't remember ornaments until she recalled that they made them new each year from corn cobs. Later in the conversation, while talking about something else, she suddenly thought of how her family made garlands to decorate the tree by stringing popcorn and cranberries together. She also remembered with a little laugh getting into trouble one year as she was caught surreptitiously eating the goodies rather than adding them to the garland.
Pauline, Corte Madera ( related to Fairyland on the phone)
NB: If you know her don't let on - but on Christmas Eve this year a fairy family from Children For Change will be surprising Pauline with some treats and a garland of popcorn and cranberries.
The Shoestring
This year has been astonishingly unforgettable. It almost seems like an entire decade of events all happened in 1 year.
I was blessed enough to be able to find a beautiful rough collie late last summer. He has and will continue to make my life amazing! He has literally made me a better person. He has already opened so many wonderful opportunities to me.
We were sitting in front of Rite Aid one evening when we met Penny from Good Fairy. She told me about Good Fairy and asked what I needed. She got Bailey a bag of dog food and a new bed. I mentioned that my shoes were in bad shape and very shortly later I received a brand new pair.
It's really wonderful that when there has been so much suffering this year that good people like Penny go out looking for people that need help. I don't think anyone will be able to forget this trying year but I will be hanging a shoe string on any future Christmas trees to remember how Good Fairy helped me and so many people this year.
Rob, Terra Linda
Fairyland note - we will hang a shoestring on our Christmas tree every year until Rob lets us know he has his own. Pictured above ...we found a nice red one!
Always Remembering Rob
I made this ornament in about 1978. Rob was very fun then. Stories in my heart forever.
Julz, Fairfax
Note from Fairyland. Julz shared a little more on the phone. She she met Robin Williams when she was in a Paramount show and he was working on Mork and Mindy. At one point she was going to be his sister on that show. She wasn't a close confidante but partied and performed with him in the LA Comedy scene, and admired both his talent and his generosity to other performers. For some reason in 1978 she made a series of about eight little ornaments of him - he was in the same outfit but had different facial expressions. Over the years she gifted them to people from tree....but this she never parted with one. She had already been putting it on her tree for c. 40 yrs before he passed away. And now of course treasures it even more.
Strange Gift
I lived in Liverpool in England as a child, we were very poor, there were lots of children, it was a big family and we never celebrated Christmas.
Then one year when I was about ten, the other children had all grown up and gone and it was just me and my parents. And a stocking arrived on the kitchen table. We'd never had anything like it before. It must have come from the church or something, my parents would never have done anything like that. And I remember us all staring at it and it seemed really strange. An old woman's stocking with an orange, a banana and a handful of nuts in it.
I also have a story about my Mother distressed about money. I was 2 yrs old and she was washing me in a tub on the wooden table. And Mother said ' Jesus will provide'. Then the tax man arrived unexpectedly and put some rebate money on the table. And I said;" Hello, are you Jesus?'
Grace, from Terra Linda ( Related on the phone. )
Cheerio!
My husband cut this out from a Cheerios box and folded it together in 1971, the year we were married.
It has graced every one of our Christmas trees since then. Our two adult daughters know the story and now our three grandchildren do also. I hope our girls don’t fight over it when we’re gone.
Sandra, San Anselmo
It just had to be 'Oso'
My grandpa sent my mom an ornament when she was pregnant with me. Unfortunately the year I was born, his kind soul had passed away. The ornament was my favorite and always placed in the center of the tree. On it there was a beautiful bear, with fur that was white and bright as snow, had some gold accents, and was standing in the middle of a forest.
One day, my parents took me to Santa Rosa for some Christmas shopping and I brought my ornament along. We went on a walk and my ornament went on an adventure on the grass, a tree, and a bench. As we were heading to the car, I noticed my ornament was not with me. I searched and searched along the route, but my ornament was not found. I regretted taking my ornament on that trip. The following Christmases were missing that special glow from the golden bear.
During the fall, my sister noticed that there was a post about a dog at Marin Humane. We went and looked at all the adorable animals at the shelter. The dog described in the post was not there. My mom asked a volunteer if there was an error on the website. The volunteer said the dog had just arrived and we were the first to ask about him. She went to the back of the room, and out came a beautiful, white as snow, golden eared puppy. My family and I instantly fell in love with this kind, caring, and adorable puppy. As we filled out his adoption paper, we knew his name had to be Oso Golden Vicente.
This brand new “bear” introduced in my life sparked up the upcoming Christmases. Oso was destined to be part of our family. Although he is not my ornament, he is a special reminder of that familiar love my grandfather had and is my new friend that I take on my special Christmas adventures.
Jason, aged 13, San Rafael
An Ornament From Heaven
I have an ornament that was gifted to me by my brother. This isn’t just any ornament, it’s an ornament from heaven as both of our parents have passed on. We lost our mother in 2006 when I was 19, and our father in 2014 when I was 28. The holidays are always very rough. Each year we try hard to remain in good spirits, but it is so undeniably painful to have no family except each other. Now my brother is in Texas and I’m in Marin county, so it feels extra lonely this year.
Each year I hang that ornament with a smile and tears. It brings me joy knowing our parents are up in heaven looking down upon us celebrating the holidays, but also brings me pain knowing we never get to physically be with family again. I wrote a poem about my relationship with grief and I’d like to share it with the community:
It is true that time is a healer. Yet grief never leaves, not completely. The wound simply, slowly heals.
In the beginning the raw angry gorge of vulnerable flesh is prodded over and over again with each passing day, each memory, and each reminder that you are no longer here with us.
Then, the wound begins to fuse together. It still hurts, but it becomes a low dull allowing me to go on with my life and put energy into my living loved ones.
Yes time heals, but that grief, oh that grief it never leaves. It sits in the back of my soul, and sometimes when it thinks I am not paying it enough attention, it shoots a searing white hot pain straight into my heart and the tears rain once more.
The Naughty Stocking
Strange but true family story.
In Northern Ireland, around 1916, when my Gran was 6 years old, she received a stocking full of coal instead of presents. It wasn't a joke. That's all she got that year.
She was the youngest of four daughters. Her presents were divided between her sisters. She had been naughty on Christmas Eve.
There was no lesson, no chance of an apology and reprieve.
I was especially close to my Gran, she was tremendous fun. Spontaneous, creative, kind, given to random acts of kindness to strangers. The latter may well have percolated through my genes to inspire me to found Good Fairy.
Now I can't imagine for a second that her behavior that Christmas Eve would raise an eyebrow in a modern day parent.
Throughout my childhood I grieved for little Gran's disappointment when she told the story. And was frozen into angelic behavior in the days before Christmas least history should repeat the terrible possibility. In my teenage years I doubted its authenticity, but my mother, was sure it was true. Together we continued over many years to try to secure details on what Gran had done. Both the horse's mouth and all three sisters were immovable on the subject.
I shamelessly made a final stab at it in my very last conversation with my Great Aunt Effie...in her nineties, the last survivor of the sisters. 'Very naughty' a knowing smile and a twinkling eye was all I got.
The mystery of it still makes me wonder every year when my children tote their stockings off on Christmas Eve. What could my Great Grandparents have been thinking?
it isn't just a sad sorry though - I love that every sister rooted for her for and kept silent re her crime for their entire lives. And when I reflect on it, I also recall that it wasn't a memory that disturbed or embarrassed her. It wasn't an injustice she railed against.
Whatever she did...I suspect she thought it was worth it.
Penny Macphail, founder, Good Fairy Marin
( not entering the competition and clearly not capable of keeping any story to 100 words...just kicking off the stories)