My gift for Day Eight.
Hello, People! Here I am all ready to begin our annual handmade holiday ornament exchange. It is something I look forward to with great anticipation every year. I become giddy like my seven year old on Christmas Eve. Yes, I do!
These gifts are kitty-approved.
If you don't know what this hubbub is all about, let me fill you in. There's a group of 12 artists (some years we are 13) and we all make 12 handmade and beautiful Christmas ornaments, one for each girl. We wrap them up in a festive way and mail them all out to the players. Then, on December 1st, the first Day of Christmas, we all open one gift, our gift marked number one. Then we put our ornament on our tree, post to our blogs, email to our group, and generally ooh and ahh, clap our hands and look forward to 12 fun days of gifts. It's awesome!
And here are the gifts for this year...
Aren't they gorgeous?
Notice the sweet little tree under which they are gathered. I was bemoaning the fact that I may not be able to put up my tree this year because of my wild dogs. The youngest chews up Everything. While the older one is still getting used to living in a house. She thinks a table is something to fly across in order to get closer to you more quickly. And, the one thing I collect is Christmas ornaments. I would be very sad to have my ornies chewed or broken. So I'm not sure how I'm going to solve this dilemma.
Faelan with one of my gifts last year
I was telling my sweet friend, Lizzie, about the tree troubles and tonight she showed up with a beautiful little tree for me. It's got lights and Is a Real Tree! My heart was so warmed and full. Her kindness really made me feel loved. Thank you, Lizzie, so very much! And it is perfect for hanging all the ornaments from this year's exchange!
Here's a list of the artists participating this year:
Day One - Crystal Neubauer
Day Two - Deryn Mentock
Day Three - Sally Turlington
Day Four - Danita Art
Day Five - Melissa David
Day Six - Jackie Allison
Day Seven - Ruth Rae
Day Eight - Kelly Snelling
Day Nine - Lou McCulloch
Day Ten - Joanna Pierotti
Day Eleven - Maija Lepore
Day Twelve -Pilar Pollack
If you click on each person's name you will be directed to their site. A couple of the girl's don't have sites and one of our dear friends, Lorraine George, had to sit out this year. You will be so very missed, Lorraine!!
My enameled grumpy bunny from last year's exchange.
Please come again tomorrow and I will be posting Crystal's ornament. It is sure to be fantastic. Here's a pic of the gorgeous waxed and metal ornament she made for us last year...
“Christmas is not a time nor a season, but a state of mind. To cherish peace and goodwill, to be plenteous in mercy, is to have the real spirit of Christmas.”
-Calvin Coolidge
I have to say this is one of my favorite traditions of the Yuletide season. As you wrote, each artist puts her heart and soul into every element of the exchange. We are so blessed to have so many wonderful and creative friends! BTW, I loved Faelan's contribution to the exchange with his altering the envy. I crack up every time I see the picture above when he took off with my package last year. Silly dog! Looking forward to tomorrow. xoxoxoxo
Posted by: pilar | November 30, 2010 at 08:40 PM
Oh, my! I didn't realize that you have TWO babies! You're a very busy girl, aren't you? Sweet!
Posted by: Deryn Mentock | December 01, 2010 at 06:37 AM
what a great way to get into the holiday spirit. can't wait to see the ornamaments made from all you talented ladies!
loved seeing your comment on my blog; miss you sweetie!
xox
Posted by: katie | December 01, 2010 at 07:59 AM