It started last year at the campground.  My parents have a camper next to ours, maybe 5 years old now and very nice. They bought it new with all the bells and whistles.  Evidently the squirrels found it quite pleasing too, because they moved in.  My mother, as I would have too, never returned last year to camp. My parents cleaned out what they could and it’s quite shocking the damage those little things can do!  Eating the wood, curtains, & cushions, and so on. After the first round of cleaning, they went back and squirrels were back (probably grateful that someone had cleaned out their condo) new nest and all! It was at this point that my Mom declared her non-return for the season.  So even though I would have freaked out if they were in my camper, I had much fun with their mishap. I searched high and low for little squirrels for gifts. I have access to their unit, so we randomly put little friends in there all season long. It started out innocently enough when we were playing “Campground” the board game and there just happened to be 3 little critters, one named Bob, like Grandpa, one named Mike, (Hubs!) and of course a squirrel, who’s name I haven’t a clue. Grandpa never knew what he was going to find, but I am certain he got a chuckle. Minus that one the 15 year old stuck in his curtains, that really looked quite real. Betcha that one caught his eye!

Miss 15 year old and I grabbed some of the larger pieces, paint, & brushes, and started painting signs for everyone for Christmas gifts. That girl is realllllly creative!  It kind of fed into everyone making homemade gifts this year. It was more beautiful than any store bought anything, truly. We had a massive amount of acorns this year, I have no idea why so many, but I grabbed a bucket full and washed them and let them dry. I spray painted them gold and made a beautiful crown out of them. Glue gun, gold nuts and a old weaving loom. It took me a few days to complete and it was so gorgeous! I had this beautiful letter about being King of the Nuts, Squirrels, peace on Earth stuff. (I make everyone fill out ‘questionnaires’ around holidays and we save them for the next year. It is always silly, fun and it challenges everyone to think. They all pretend to hate it. Anyhoo, one question was if you could be anything what would it be? FIL said “King.” Hence the crown.