My favorite Christmas gift...

A few months back my cousin Kim found a Red Eared Slider Turtle wandering around her neighborhood, which she adopted and has since decided it was a boring pet.  So she offered it to me as she knows we have a small pond with Japanese Goldfish and a resident bullfrog. I LOOVE animals! My yard has lots of critters!

As a small child my Dolly (paternal Grandmother) had a turtle in a big fishbowl on her kitchen counter.  My Aunt Janet had won the turtle at a Church Carnival when she was a kid.  The turtle was the size of a silver dollar when it came home.  Aunt Janet named him "winky" because she said the turtle "winked" at her.  He grew quite large and lived for many years in my Grandmother's Kitchen.  When I was 6, I had two tiny turtles.  I adored them, but sadly one day when we set them out to sun in the yard, some darn birds stole them and I found their empty shells in the yard.  We have found Box turtles over the years and my eldest had a water turtle that grew so large for his tank that we set him free at a local pond at a park. One of my favorite books as a child, which still is to this day, is named "The Aminal"  which in the end is about a little turtle.

Needless to say, my heart is fond of turtles, any critters for that matter.  I am a county girl at heart and long to live on a small farm somewhere.

So, despite the Wonderful gifts my Beau and children gave me, Winky, my new turtle is my Favorite Gift this year.  Thanks Kim, he seems to like his new home quite well!!