Gifts and such

I had a very nice Christmas. It's a little different when there aren't any kids around or any family events to attend, but it's they way I've spent my Christmas for the past 5 years. The nice thing about Christmas when you live far away from friends and family is that gifts arrive in the mail! I love going to the mail box in December. Christmas cards and gifts and good wishes.


One of the envelopes that arrived contained this little gem.  It was from my blogging friend Leigh (Tales from Bloggeritaville) - What a lovely ornament!  I just adore this Santa.  This is one of my favorites - he's one of the old time santas in that style that I love.  The back of the ornament looks like an old postcard.  I love it, Leigh.  Thanks so much.

Tom gave me something that I've been wanting for awhile now.  Granted, I sent him out on a mission to get it, but I was delighted with the quality.  He put a ton of thought into finding the perfect TRIPOD for me!  I got a tripod *dancing around the room* I got a tripod!  I took all three of the photos today of items in my Christmas tree because I could finally do it without having it blurry or needing to use the flash.  I love my tripod.  I'm so excited.  He also gave me a portable DVD player, some colored pencils, dishtowels and a calendar for my purse.  I think there were a few other small items, too.

My sister Alison is framing some business cards for me - I took the business cards to her in October and told her to pick the frame, the design, the everything and I know I'd love it.   I guess she decided since she had so much control over the whole thing she might as well gift it to me :) She's a smart kid!

My Mother sent me this Santa cup.   It's one that we received as kids and she sent it on to me this year.  When I opened up the box I burst into tears.  I seriously love it when that happens.  It's an honest emotional moment.  What a delight to receive a childhood memory in the mail.  About a second later my sister Hillary called.   She asked what I was doing and I said - crying! haha.  The Santa cup once had a red cap and handle, but nearly all of it has flaked off.  I find it interesting that the little blok markes on the cap are still intact.  They must have been painted first instead of painted over the red. 

The next item in the box from my mom was the "Three Legs of Man" or the Manx triskelion.  It is the symbol of the Isle of Man (IOM) and since we had taken our trip there in May and the Corlett side of my family came from the Isle of Man, it was an unexpected treat.  I'm so excited to have this in my ornament collection.  Thanks Mom!!

Tom's parents sent us gifts, too - I received several dishtowels (poinsettia designs - love them!) and the most gorgeous scarf/shawl with three large buttons.  I've already decided that I'm taking it to Rome with me.  I needed a giant scarf like that when we went to IOM in May - I can imagine that Feb in Rome I might like it as well.  Anyway, I loved the scarf. :)

On Christmas morning I got an email that I had just received a gift card to Amazon.com.  My sister Hillary thought I might like a few new titles downloaded onto my Kindle.   I was thrilled to pieces! 

My Dad sends food.  He's sent two prime rib roasts and a filet mignon roast.  Goodness, they are so good!    He sent one for Labor day I think, one for Thanksgiving and one for Christmas.  We finally caught up and now only have the Christmas filet roast left in the freezer. 

This little brown glittery ornament is not a gift that I received this year.  Actually I bought it and a dozen more a few years back.  Today, however, I noticed that the ornament was brown.  Brown was the photo prompt for this week's photo challenge from Shutterboo and I was having a terrible time photographing brown things.  I found a lot of brown items, but I swear, not a single photo was worth the effort.  When I was editing the photos of the ornaments in the tree, I realized that I should probably with my own theme for the day and take a picture of the brown ornament in the tree. 

This is only my second week participating in the photo challenge.  It's been going on for 19 weeks so far, so there are still plenty of weeks to join in, if it's something that appeals to you.  Shutterboo's website has a black background, so it breaks all my rules...I can hardly stand to read a blog with a black background.  But the photo pool is on Flikr and I can read her blog in my reader, so I'm making an exception because I like the photo challenge idea and the prompts.  It's been fun so far.

I hope you have been having a lot of fun these few days after Christmas.  New Years is just a heart beat away!

Kristin