Been Caught Stealing

Many years ago, in an apartment not too far away from where we currently live, Chris and I were robbed.  It was Mother's Day and we were returning from a dinner with my mom (aka Nana).  As we made our way into our apartment something was amiss.  There was a jar of mayonnaise broken in the centre of our kitchen floor.  Chris immediately asked me if I had broken it and just left it there before we left the house that afternoon (apparently I have a reputation for smearing condiments all over the floor and going out for hours that I was unaware of).  For the record: I had absolutely nothing to do with the mayonnaise on the floor, despite Chris' complaints that I'm the messiest person in the world.  Our cat Pan came to greet us and started mewing incessantly.  He led us to our office where we discovered that our entire back window pane had been removed.  By the window was our lap top and a few other things that were in the process of being packed up to be relocated from our place to a pawn shop.

We had walked in on our robbers, which fortunately had stopped them from stealing everything we had of value, but we had not caught them before they had ransacked my jewelry collection.  Fortunately for them, at the time of the robbery, I had all of my wares neatly on display on my nightstand for them to easily sort and steal.  After the police report was filled and we cleaned up our place, mayonnaise, as well as some beer bottles and sparkling water that the robbers had helped themselves to, we set to work on making things more secure.  We installed extra deadbolts, our landlord helped us cut hockey stick jams to secure all of our windows and we put an extra bright light on the back entrance.  For a few weeks Chris slept with a baseball bat beside our bed, just in case.  We were really lucky that we didn't corner anyone during the robbery and that no one got hurt.

Unfortunately, they never located any of our stolen goods.  We had caught the thieves "mid-job", so they had only run away with my jewelry: the gold locket from my great great grandmother, the sapphire earrings that my grandmother had purchased me for university graduation, the watch my grandfather gave me from when I turned 20 and my mother's engagement ring that I was going to refashion into a necklace.  It was like they had specifically looked for anything with any sentimental value and taken it.  There were no buts about it, this sucked.  Ironically, I had left our grocery money in the cookie jar  (we don't keep it there any more) and it was  untouched.

Earlier this year, when cleaning out a drawer in our office, I found a small jewelry box.  Inside were a few pieces of jewelry that were given to me as a child that I had long forgotten.  For Christmas this year, I have decided that Molly is going to get a heart necklace that my grandfather and step-grandmother gave me when I turned 13.  Chris and I debated maybe saving it for when she's older, but I've decided that I'd rather give it to her this year, because I know that it will make her happy  She's only three and will only be allowed to wear it for special occasions, but I'd rather see her wear it then it sitting out on a dresser somewhere.  I have a few other pieces from my childhood that I plan give to her over the years.

What sentimental gifts do you have planned for the holidays?