BUTTON, button...who's got the Button?

Apparently my sister had the button.  ALL of them.  This is a picture of only one of three giant containers that she has collected over the past 10 or so years.  I am making a Christening gown and for some reason, unknown to me, I can not find any 3/8 inch white, pretty buttons within a 30 mile radius of my house.  Okay, I know that I live in PoDunk and after just a short search in Wal Mart and a junky craft store I had exhausted my only resources in this quiet little town.  Not to be defeated, I drove to the nearest larger town where there is a fabric store, a Wal Mart and a Hobby Lobby...still no luck.  So while I was in 'the nearest larger town' I stopped by my sister's house, and sure enough I hit the jackpot!

This is a photo of only the center of one of the piles of the buttons we went through.
 It doesn't show but the pile is about 2 sq. feet and also about 3 inches deep!

We got down in the floor and my sister, my niece and I each took a container and dumped them on the carpet.  Patiently we sifted through the thousands of buttons searching for just the right ones.  Eventually we found six that were just alike and suitable for the Christening gown.  In the process we had a really good time.  We remembered the button box that my mom had when we were growing up  and the way it smelled (I know, we are weird).  We picked up certain buttons and made comments like 'this one looks like it came off of a ....... (fill in the blank).  Or, 'now this one is REALLY old!'  We even bit a few to see if they were wood or plastic (again, I know, weird).

The point is I am glad my sister had ALL of the buttons.  It afforded us a little time to bond and laugh and relax.  It's the little things in life.

Next time I plan to go through her wooden spool collection!