Earlier I planned to gush about my new game that has a beach theme, but tonight I have gotten distracted.

My eighth wedding anniversary is coming up next month and the traditional gift given is bronze. There are many ways to go with this but my hubby is a simple guy. He doesn’t like a lot of stuff around, hates knick knacks etc. So I often give him gifts that are super practical, or an ornament for our tree. Growing up as a little girl I always received a new ornament representing my interests from that year. As I’ve grown I’ve continued this tradition and included acquiring an ornament when we travel and now choose an ornament for my son each year. Putting up the tree is one of my favorite holiday activities simply because I love remembering the story behind each ornament.

This last holiday season was especially hard for our family after the death of our newborn. While looking through Etsy for a bronze ornament idea I came across Elizabeth’s shop at http://www.etsy.com/shop/ElizabethBonura. She makes bronze ornaments.  I sent her a message explaining our situation to see if she had any ideas on how we could include our daughter. She did and promised to send some past work pictures for me to see. Tonight she sent the pictures and it’s close but not quite right. I was struck with a bit of my own inspiration and wrote back. A heart on our chests with an “E” inside since that is where we hold our daughter. She like so many Etsy artist was more than happy to play around with that idea and see what she could come up with. This is why I love and shop Etsy almost exclusively when I need a gift. I love interacting with real people, I love how I can incorporate my own ideas to make it work for the person I am giving the gift to and I love how responsive the sellers are. I can’t wait to see what she comes up with!