Scissor Thief

The scissors disappeared soon after I’d bought them, I just hadn’t realized they were gone…until it was too late.

I was deep in the reeds with raising small children and with little money to spare and the holidays approaching, I scoured my craft magazines and found a project I knew would be treasured. I picked up the supplies and began working late into the evening as I cut various colours of felt into intricate pieces…soon realizing I needed a much better pair of scissors than the ones that had been tossed around my cutlery drawer for years.

I picked up a pair of shiny new Fiskars…and got to work.

After many hours of cutting, sewing and gluing while the children were napping or down for the night, that Christmas, my mother opened the five-foot-long mantlepiece cloth depicting the nativity scene, that I’d so lovingly gifted her. The tail of the cow adorned with a bow and bell. The fur of the sheep tied with double French knots. The three wise men carrying shiny, pretty things.

I created a gift that’s become a family heirloom, on display each and every holiday season since mom first unfolded it from its holiday wrappings.

When the holidays were over, I packed all of the fabrics and supplies and placed them in an old trunk...longing for the day when bottles and diapers didn’t rule my life and I could finally get back to crafting once again.

In April of that year, we hired a Nanny as I headed back to working full time…crafts and hobbies now pushed even further down my infamous “to-do” list. Things went well for a while with the Nanny taking charge of my home and me, happily giving up the control as a tired, worn-out, full-time working momma does.

I’m not entirely sure when the first signs crept in that something was “off”…that our Nanny wasn’t quite the Mary Poppins we’d initially thought she was…but it was the disappearance of my child’s beloved “yellow blankie" that turned the tides.

You see, there’d been a few things I’d misplaced during the time our caregiver was with us...each lost item pushed aside with the excuse that it was due to us moving homes, my incessant ability to “poke” things away, and of course…the dreaded “mommy brain”.

For example, lost was the beautiful blue and yellow floral and plaid table cloth adorned with lemons that I’d purchased on a whim and spent far too much on…except that it matched our wedding China perfectly and I HAD to have it! When I’d misplaced it, I assumed it must have been packed away with the holiday decor even though it wasn’t like me to be so careless. Next, the “duck decor” I’d picked up on sale...knowing that I’d someday re-decorate the children’s bathroom in blues and yellows with rubber ducks being the star of the show…had simply waddled off! Following that, a piece of pottery I’d purchased for a friend that I poked aside until it was time to be given, couldn’t be located with the occasion arrived. It went missing along with the bottle of single malt scotch I’d purchased for my brother, a pair of PJs I’d picked up for my sister-in-law, sweet baby onesies I’d purchased on clearance knowing they wouldn’t go to waste as multiple friends were having babies, vintage French onion soup pots that I’d never gotten to try…along with many other things I’ve long since forgotten...that had all disappeared.

When the ragged, beloved, yellow blankie went missing I knew it was no longer me simply misplacing various items as I’d NEVER lose such a precious item…and instead, turned to our Nanny as the culprit.

That evening, after a great amount of inner turmoil and second-guessing, I wrote the week’s check along with an extra two weeks of pay and went to her home to hand-deliver the money along with a message that we’d no longer require her services.

It was there in our babysitter’s hallway, my hands shaking as I’m horrible with confrontation, that I glanced into her kitchen and discovered my far-too-expensive tablecloth with the pretty yellow lemons, chopped up and made into the curtains that were hanging in her kitchen window. Likely cut using the shiny scissors that I’d carefully placed in their holder, awaiting the day when my kids were just a wee bit older, and I could finally get back to the hobbies I loved.

When I confronted her, she admitted to taking a few things she didn’t feel I needed from my home…along with “tossing out” my child’s beloved “stinky yellow rag”.

I left with her check still held tight in my shaking hand.

The year was 2002 and in the nineteen years since I fired the Nanny and left my full-time job to be at home with my children, those scissors became the symbol of cutting the ties of things that no longer serve you…and taking back control.

I began crafting again as a stay-at-home mom…but only a little. Scrapbooking was all the rage and I filled albums with memories. I did a little stamping, made the odd holiday cross stitch, or a few things for during the holidays…but I never really got back into it as I had before.

Instead, in the years that followed, I was busy raising my three children…attending hockey and volleyball games, travelling to tournaments, attending school plays and musicals, and putting together Halloween costumes where, on the odd occasion I’d be cutting a bunny ear or a cat tail with kitchen scissors (or worse, nail clippers), I’d be reminded of the fancy scissors I’d once owned! I attended graduations, saw my children off to university and start careers of their own. I divorced, went back to school, started my own company, sold the family home and eventually, moved to an apartment to start a new chapter of my life…one where the nest has been emptied of my little ducklings and I’m going it alone!

With extra time on my hands, a few months ago, I picked up a weaving kit…but haven’t quite gotten around to starting it. I purchased a canvas and paints…but for some reason, I’ve been holding off. I have a new calligraphy set and beautiful ink…that remains unopened. I brought the stockpile of craft materials and magazines up from the storage room and organized the contents…even finding the old pattern from the mantle cloth I’d made all those years before…then tucked it all back away.

I haven’t crafted in so very long that I’m not exactly sure where to start. However, it’s long past time I cut some time out of my busy days and get back to finding that peace and balance…the magic…that crafting brings.

I'll start with replacing the pair of scissors that disappeared soon after I’d bought them all those years ago. That I hadn’t realized were gone. But it’s never too late.