Fol low THE SPOOL
“GROWING UP, we spent every Christmas Eve with the entire family
at my grandparents’ farmhouse in Kansas. Because we were a farm-
ing family, people often bought each other gifts that were too large
to be wrapped and placed under the tree. So we came up with a clever
solution: under the tree, amongst the piles of presents each year, there
would be a spool of thread bearing the recipient’s name. That person—
along with the rest of the family—would follow the thread attached to
the spool, which unwound through the house and lead to the oversized
gift’s hiding place. The thread would end someplace like the cellar, the
garage, or even the loft in the barn, and lead to gifts such as ladders,
wheelbarrows, a car, and even a puppy one year for my cousin.
I can’t remember now what was at the end of the thread the year my
name was on the spool, but I remember vividly the excitement of find-
ing it there and of following it out of the house and through the snow
as a family.”
Carrie Saxl
CARRIE SAXL
has an eponymous
jewelry collection, which she designs
and creates out of a charming studio
cottage in Napa.
Cover
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