We start and end....

 
"other things may change us, but we start and end with family."-Anthony Brandt...A rare occurence, our whole extended family together in one place on Christmas Eve...joyous!!

My first pieces....

 
I have always loved this Courtly Check enamelware by McKensie Childs...and I got my first pieces of this pattern for Christmas from my sister-in-law, Sandy...I think I may have to work on getting the canister set that matches...and then, and then......

Lauren's Gift to Uncle John...

 "Perfect love sometimes does not come until the first grandchild."-Welsh Proverb...Lauren gave Uncle John a hand drawn portrait of his first grandchild, Mattea on Christmas Eve. As you can see by this photo, he was beaming with pride and little Mattea even knew it was her...a truly heart warming Christmas moment..nice job, Lauren.

One of my favorite presents....

 
This Christmas morning Leah surprised me with one of my favorite gifts...she had my 365 Photography Blog "A Second Glance" published into a book. This is only Volume 1, and she said Volume 2 would be after I completed my 365th day in Feb. of 2011. Awesome gift, Leah!

Scarfin' it up...

 
My niece, Elise, a crafty girl in her own right, made every one of us ladies a fleece scarf for Christmas...so of course we had to strike a pose all together on Christmas Eve. Nice job Elise!!

Happiness is ....

 
a pair of cozy slippers...a gift from my friend, Nicole...and as an added bonus, my cat likes to play with my "happy feet".

Snow on the roof tops...

 
The Christmas wonderland in our hallway is just about complete...I added the snow along all the roof tops of the kids' lockers, mixed in a few snowballs for added pizazz...and I now I am wishing we could get alittle real snow on our own roof tops for Christmas!