My two sisters and I grew up in Norman. One of my sisters now lives in a rural area of Cincinnati Ohio, and is involved in re-enacting scenes and events from the 1800s. She loves American Indian culture, and has a tipi on the land by her home.
Janice tipi.jpgSaturday night after Thanksgiving we gathered in her tipi around a fire, along with our kids and grandkids – about half of the kids having grown up outside of Oklahoma. We started to sing some old camp songs, and then one of my nieces started, “Jewelry is the gift to give…” and half of us joined in to finish the jingle together. Then we had some explaining to do to the kids who hadn’t heard the jingle before. It was great!
The next morning, back at my home in Speedway, Indiana, my daughter and I were going over line by line, because she wanted to memorize it, too.