Bring Your Bonnet

God has blessed me beyond imagination with my parents.  They are generous, gracious and kind.  That said….  all of those wonderful attributes occasionally combine into a ‘perfect storm’ of sorts.

You see, my folks- my Mother in particular, love to give gifts.  In fact, I’m pretty sure their love language is gift giving.  Most of the time I am the happy benefactor of their love, but every once in a while Mom seems to feel like NOT getting me something would be so rude that it simply isn’t an option.

A lot of the gifts I’ve gotten over the years have been offerings from my parents’ vacations.  My parents recently returned from a trip to Branson, Missouri (if you’re hoping to vacation soon Branson is a hotspot for all you crazy partiers).  When I went to visit them after they returned my mom told me that there was a gift waiting for me in my room. 

This is what I saw:

What is this, you ask?

I thought for a second she had gotten me a really cute blouse or maybe some sort of scarf.  It took me a while and then it came to me (after my Mom told me).

A bonnet.

That’s a bonnet folks.

She went on vacation and bought me a bonnet.

And if you are thinking I had recently begged my Mom for a bonnet you’re wrong.  I’m pretty sure I hadn’t even said the WORD bonnet for years and years.  Ever since I finished my Laura Ingles Wilder / Little House on the Prairie phase (and by the way, if you’re looking for a HILARIOUS Laura Ingles Wilder anecdote please read this story from Katy).

What I love about this bonnet is that it really puts all of those tourist t-shirts that people usually get from vacations to shame.  It says “my-family-went-to-Branson-and-somehow-managed-to-find-a-store-that-sells-completely-random-paraphernalia-and-all-I-got-was-this-bonnet”.  It’s not so much the gift as it is the fact that someone was selling this in their gift shop.  For the life of me, I can’t figure out the correlation between Branson and bonnets.  I’m sure it’s ignorance on my part but I certainly hope that they aren’t all the rage in Branson now and I’ve spent the better part of this blog making fun of them.

So, just to be safe, the next time you head to Branson you better not forget your bonnet.