Whaddya get for Christmas?

if you know what this is, we are soul mates.  If not, tell you later. 

The daughters and I are really, really good at Christmas.  We would all tell you that Thanksgiving, hands down, is our FAVORITE holiday.  We're good at Thanksgiving too.  But we really excel at Christmas.

Our ways would not be everybody's ways.  Our goal is to make everyone feel lavished.  Is that a word?  It's our word.  We go all out and always have.  Back in the student days this involved less $$ and more creativity.  Now we are creative about spending the $$.  We don't hold back.

Now this does not mean new cars, and none of us have ANY credit card debt.*  Really, truly.  So when I say we go all out we are not being foolish or doing anything we shouldn't.  We are just expressing love in terms of material objects.  In the true spirit of Christmas.  Yes, tongue is firmly in cheek.

*one of the proudest statements I can make as a mother.

There was some silly talk over the Thanksgiving table about whether or not we should take a more restrained approach to Christmas.  I laughed and said they could go ahead but not to expect me to change at this point in my life.

So I was curious (not worried, just curious) to see what the addition of two more people would be like this year.  Both daughters now have a person in their life with whom spending Christmas is a good thing.  This unexpected turn of events was two of the highlights of 2017.

Fork pins!

Spoiler alert:  It was fabulous.  They fit right in. They both brought mountains of presents to go with the mountains under the tree.  We spent HOURS opening presents (one at a time so everybody gets to see and enjoy everybody else's gifts.  Like I said, we do it RIGHT.)  The presents were right on target (Amazon wish lists help a lot) and others were surprising and unexpectedly apt.  There were lots of very funny presents.  We are very funny people.

And many of my presents were sewing related.  Which is my excuse for telling you all about how we celebrate.  There WERE other presents (thanks for the dragon head, Jim) but I'm only showing the sewing things here.

Oh, yes, bring on the tools and trinkets!

What a trip! (Using the word in the 1960s sense)

1

And the American Duchess book had just been published!  Hot off the presses!

The sewing presents continued in the week after Christmas as I caught up with friends.

Many of the presents came from thrift stores, too.  We're not stuffy about that.  These patterns are from Barbara, who has often witnessed me going into raptures over vintage patterns in the thrift shops.

Becky walked into a thrift store the week before Christmas and discovered an entire thimble collection.  And bought it for me.

As a displaced Midwesterner I really love the covered bridge and the memories it evokes.

**********

Did you recognize the Nebra Sky Disc?  Bronze disc from the Bronze Age, circa 1600 BCE, one of the oldest known depictions of astronomical events.  And yes, this DOES fit my sewing theme because there are perforations around the outside of the disc suggesting that it had been sewn to something.  Since it is 12 inches in diameter I'm guessing a shield rather than a cloak.

This is a 4 inch tile rather than a 12 inch bronze disc

I have long wanted to re-create this in some way.  I'm not a bronze smith though.  I have a bunch of ideas and have had them for years, if not decades.  If I ever do anything about it you will certainly see it here.

*********************

Did you get (or give) any cool sewing themed gifts this year?  Tell us about it in the comments.  If it is really, really cool, send me a photo and I'll add it to this post.