For the past few years, I’ve been obsessed with getting a Hudson’s Bay Blanket. It’s become my holy grail.

I grew up with one — well, a knockoff one from JC Penney’s, anyway. That blanket, along with a scratchy red plaid Pendleton blanket, were always around. When I was little and sick and on the couch with Saltines and 7-Up and watching The Joker’s Wild, my mom would tuck me in with one of those blankets, though I much preferred the quilt we got one summer in Wisconsin.

Many years later, in my her last days, my sister brought the Hudson Bay blanket to the hospital for my mom. She was so cold, and hospitals are stingy with blankets. (I’m not proud of how I yelled at the smug orderly who refused to give my mom extra blankets in the emergency room as she shivered. Oh, wait. Actually I am.) We were all glad she had something cozy and familiar, and glad to tuck her in as she had done for us so many times before.

My sister wound up with both the Hudson Bay and the Pendleton blankets (I wound up with the quilt from Wisconsin, which I’m under as I type), and I started looking for a Hudson Bay of my own. I was shocked at how expensive they are! New Hudson Bay Blanket

I jokingly asked for one for Christmas, but knew I wouldn’t get it. Even vintage ones with moth-holes go for a ton of money! I looked in every thrift store, antique store, flea market, and eventually found a small one that is kind of chewed up, but it was cheap enough that I got it for a throw at the end of the bed — almost a placeholder for when I found the real deal.

I also realized that I didn’t really want the real deal — I wanted a knockoff like my parents had. And just when I decided that, we went through our old earthquake kit to refresh it, and lo and behold, we found Jon’s grandma’s maroon Hudson’s Bay blanket, that we had put in there about 10 years ago and completely forgot about it!

Still, I held out hope that someday I would find the multi-colored Glacier Park one. Then last week I idly looked on etsy, never expecting to find one, and there was a 1950s “Golden Dawn” JC Penney knockoff for less than $80, and big! It seemed too good to be true, so when it arrived yesterday, as I was sick on the couch (no Saltines, 7-Up OR Joker’s Wild, but the quilt from Wisconsin), I opened the package and didn’t expect much.

It is perfect.

It’s huge! And soft and wonderful.

Dino TOTALLY approves.

But as it happens when you find your holy grail, there’s initial glee but then a little bit of a let-down, too — the search is over, and what’s left to look for and find?

But I think I have a solution for that.