A Cinderella Story

When I was little, I was obsessed with Cinderella's glass slipper. I remember my childhood Cinderella book and I'd stare at the pictures of her blue gown and glass slippers. I vividly remember the scene from the movie where the slipper sits atop a pillow and they animate a sparkle gleaming from the shoe. Really, all those tiny details Disney added in went straight to my soul. 

As a child, I really wanted my own glass slipper. Swarovski makes a glass slipper as part of their crystal collection, but at $100+, I said no thank you. I was also intelligent enough to know I didn't actually want something breakable, because chances were, I was going to break it. So instead, I wanted a "glass" slipper ornament made out of some other material that wasn't breakable. Over the years I saw many renditions of Christmas ornament heels. Most were glittery and sparkly, some were acrylic, but none were mine.

You can find Christmas ornaments which look similar to this for a few dollars.
Pretty depending on the perspective you're taking, but not what I wanted.

As I grew up, I fell in love with a miniatures collection called Just the Right Shoe. I'd see the collectibles pop up in magazines here and there. The closest I ever got was cutting out the pictures and saving them in notebooks.

An example set of Just the Right Shoe on a display shoe.

I eventually gave up on my dream of ever owning my own Cinderella slippers. The years went on and I got married. We started a tradition of buying a meaningful ornament every year to add to our Christmas tree. Since then we've purchased eight ourselves and been gifted many with the births of our children. I even turned some old souvenirs into ornaments by hanging them up with string. 

My kids love checking out the tree.

While casually discussing Christmas gifts, my husband asked me what I wanted, and I randomly told him I wanted a glass slipper ornament. I told him it had to be a certain kind with a certain appearance. I wasn't the young child who was fascinated by all things shiny with glitter anymore. So I did a quick search online and actually found one which didn't break the bank and actually looked the way I wanted it to. And he ordered it, no questions asked. 

The perfect balance of elegance and charm and within budget!

I didn't grow up hungry or poor or lacking in any physical sense. All my needs were met sufficiently, but like Cinderella, I did not grow up with a lot of joy or fun. Christmas wasn't a big deal at our house. Our gifts sometimes consisted of rewrapped existing toys so we could simply open an actual gift. My husband has helped bring back the joy and fun I missed out on growing up, and for the first time, I have my own Cinderella "slipper."

(Technically, this is my second slipper..if you want to read about my first "slipper" check out a post from three years ago here.)