Music Friday: Engagement Rings Top the Crofts Sisters' Christmas Wish Lists

Welcome to a special holiday edition of Music Friday when we bring you fun and festive songs with jewelry, gemstones or precious metals in the title or lyrics. Today, Crofts Family siblings Callie, Colette and Devri make their best pitch for engagement ring gifts in their 2014 release, “Merry Christmas, Marry Me.”

Employing the close-harmony style reminiscent of The Andrews Sisters, the Crofts girls deliver a lyrical marriage proposal to boyfriends who won’t take the plunge. In the official video, the sisters adopt the look and sound of the swing and boogie-woogie eras.

They sing, “I hear those church bells ringing for the season / But they give me starry eyes / And I’ve got an empty finger right here to put a ring on / Darling, if you ever get wise.”

Written by Callie Crofts, “Merry Christmas, Marry Me” appeared as the seventh track on the Crofts Family album titled Sparrow in the Birch: A Crofts Family Christmas.

The Crofts Family, which hails from the tiny town of Firth, ID (pop. 530), is led by patriarch Vincent Crofts, who encouraged his daughters to develop their musical talents at a young age. It’s been reported that their country home looks like a scene from a vintage Christmas card.

By age 12, Callie Crofts was already an accomplished songwriter and guitar player. As an adult, she persuaded her family to finally produce the Christmas album they had always wanted to record. The 2014 release would include a number of holiday favorites that the girls sang as children, as well as two original tunes written by Callie.

One reviewer wrote that the voices of the Crofts girls are “pure and angelic with harmonies that hold your emotions hostage.”

Please check out the official video of the Crofts Family performing “Merry Christmas, Marry Me.” The lyrics are below if you’d like to sing along…

“Merry Christmas, Marry Me”
Written by Callie Crofts. Performed by the Crofts Family.

Merry Christmas, marry me a thousand times
I wanna know you’re mine, mine
So baby please don’t let no

No-good honey steal a kiss
Under the mistletoe
Merry Christmas, love me ’til the end of time
I wanna hang your stocking next to mine
When we’re ninety-nine

I hear those church bells ringing for the season
But they give me starry eyes
And I’ve got an empty finger right here to put a ring on
Darling, if you ever get wise

Merry Christmas, marry me a thousand times
I wanna hang your stocking next to mine
When we’re ninety-nine

Merry Christmas, I don’t need a present
Wrapped up with a shiny bow, no no
You know what I’m wishing for
So don’t you make me wait anymore

Merry Christmas, and honey if you cause a scene
When you get down on one knee
It won’t bother me

I hear those church bells ringing for the season
But they give me starry eyes
And I’ve got an empty finger right here to put a ring on
Darling, if you ever get wise

Merry Christmas, love me ’til the end of time
I wanna hang your stocking next to mine
When we’re ninety-nine

I hear those church bells
Ringing for the season
But baby we could ring ’em
For a whole different reason
Merry Christmas, marry me a thousand times

Credit: Screen capture via YouTube.com.

Bridal Jewelry Picked From 20 Tons of Trash With Help of Surveillance Video

By reviewing surveillance video, the general services director of a transfer station in Windham, NH, was able to narrow down the location of a garbage bag containing a bridal set that had been accidentally thrown away.

Kevin Butler had mistakenly discarded the rings that his wife of 32 years had just cleaned and wrapped in a white napkin to dry. In the Windham community, residents can opt to have their trash picked up at the curbside or they may deliver the trash directly to the local transfer station.

In Butler's case, he hand delivered the trash to the station. General Services Director Dennis Senibaldi knew that their surveillance video would provide vital clues as to exactly when and where Butler dropped off his garbage.

“That in itself was amazing," Butler told The Washington Post. "If we didn’t have that surveillance camera, there’s no way we would have found it. There was so much trash.”

After viewing the video, Dennis Senibaldi, his crew and Butler spent the next 30 minutes sorting through a trailer that contained 20 tons of very disgusting and smelly garbage.

Specifically, they were looking for a grey-handled white bag that contained particular items that the Butlers has just thrown away — celery stalks and yogurt cups.

Senibaldi described Butler's demeanor as "a little frantic."

“I could clearly see in his eyes that he was definitely stressed,” he told The Washington Post. “There’s a lot of meaning in those rings for him and his wife.”

When they finally found the grey-handled bag (with some celery sticks protruding from the side), the team was encouraged. But, as they sorted through the bag's contents, the mood changed as there were no rings to be found.

“As we were going through the bag that we knew was his, he actually said, ‘It's not in here.’ And I said, ‘No, there's a couple little pieces left,'” Senibaldi told WMUR-TV. “I had my rubber gloves on, I moved a few items out of the way and saw literally the very last napkin and I opened it up.”

Tucked inside that napkin were Cindy Butler's engagement ring and wedding band, precious keepsakes that totaled 2.5 carats in diamonds.

A relieved Kevin Butler jumped to his feet and hugged Senibaldi.

Commenting on his 30 minutes sorting through nasty trash, Butler told WMUR-TV, "Wouldn’t recommend anyone else do it. But, you know, to get the rings back, I would do it a thousand times over.”

Butler and his wife thanked Senibaldi and his crew by hosting a pizza lunch the following weekend.

Check out WMUR-TV's report at this link.

Credits: Screen captures via Youtube.com / WMUR-TV.

Auction of Mitzi Perdue's 'Atocha' Emerald Yields $1.2MM to Benefit Ukraine

Philanthropist and humanitarian Mitzi Perdue’s 400-year-old historic emerald hit the auction block at Sotheby’s Magnificent Jewels Sale in New York last week and the results were stellar. Despite a modest pre-sale high estimate of $70,000, the 5.27-carat emerald mounted on a gold band drew a winning bid of $1.2 million with all the proceeds going to benefit humanitarian efforts in Ukraine.

The emerald in its rough form had been salvaged from the galleon named Nuestra Señora de Atocha, which sank along the reefs near the Florida Keys in 1622 after getting caught in a storm. The ship was making its return trip to Spain with a hull full of treasure collected from Bolivia, Mexico, Colombia, Venezuela, the Caribbean and the Andes. The bounty included 24 tons of silver ingots, 180,000 silver coins, 125 gold bars and discs, 70 pounds of emeralds and a cache of precious natural pearls.

Lost for 363 years, the Atocha was finally discovered in 1985 by treasure hunter Mel Fisher with the assistance of some high-profile benefactors, such as chicken magnate Frank Perdue. Fisher and his team would eventually recover artifacts with an estimated value of more than $1 billion, and Perdue was awarded a portion of the spoils, most of which he donated to Delaware Tech and the Smithsonian.

One item that he decided to keep was a rough emerald that he would have cut into a 5.27-carat finished stone and mounted in an engagement ring for the love of his life, Mitzi. He proposed with the octagonal-shaped, step-cut gem in 1988.

"My late husband was the most philanthropic person I ever knew," Perdue told Town & Country, "and I was certain that he'd be pleased with this use of his gift."

Regarding her emotional connection to the emerald, she told T&C that the "sentimentality reaches to the outer galaxies."

"But when I was deciding whether to do it or not, I was thinking, 'Oh, this ring has the possibility of saving people from a lot of suffering," she said.

On her website, the human rights activist, who also happens to be the heiress to the Sheraton Hotels fortune (her dad co-founded the chain), explained that the proceeds from the sale of her engagement ring will purchase warm clothes, flashlights, small generators and other items requested by the Mayors of Lviv and Kyiv.

In addition, some of the funds will go to rehabbing buildings on the Ukrainian border, where women can be counseled before they cross.

"Human traffickers prey on the vulnerable," she wrote, "and during the Ukraine war, traffickers lurk on Ukraine’s borders, targeting women and children. The goal is to keep them from making a decision that may cost them their lives."

Perdue has developed a deep fondness and respect for the Ukrainian people.

"I spent five days there," the 81-year-old Harvard grad told T&C. "My first night was in a bomb shelter, so it was eventful, but I came away with just infinite admiration for the people of Ukraine and their strength, their backbone and courage."

In addition to supporting Ukraine with the proceeds from the sale of her engagement ring, Perdue also pledged all the proceeds from her new book, Relentless: Mark Victor Hansen.

Credits: Ring image courtesy of Sotheby's. Photo of Mitzi and Frank Perdue courtesy of Mitzi Perdue.