the Christmas Wrap-Up Part 1

Christmas has come and gone, with the final vestige of my holiday cheer was lived out last night at our girlfriend Secret Santa potluck dinner at Ronni's. I truly wish we had taken pictures, Ronni set her dining room table beautifully and all the food (tomato bisque, cheesy french bread and potatoes au gratin), cocktail of the night, gluehwein (German mulled wine that my dear Amanda made) & dessert (peppermint ice cream) were all delicious.
But alas, we were hungry and I guess Molly was busy because she always takes pictures.

Robyn was the recipient of my Secret Santa gifts this year. I decided to go practical and cozy with her presents and so she got cozy socks & a new pair of gloves, both of which she had mentioned she needed fairly recently. I also gave her the Glee Christmas Album.

As it turns out, I was also Robyn's Secret Santa, which hasn't happened in the last few years that we've done this thrifty means of gift exchange. You'll notice, but I'll state the obvious anyways; Robyn is a far more creative gift giver than I, God love her for it.

You can't tell from the picture but it is massive. Adam is very jealous, I love it.

Robyn put this necklace together and gave one to me & one to Ronni, so we now have matching necklaces :)

This was hard to get a picture off (and of course I just noticed that my kitchen cabinet is open) but it was my favorite gift. Robyn got it when she went junking for some chairs, repainted the frame and now it's beautiful.

Ellie and I also had a minor gift exchange last night, for and from Reed.
As I'd imagine most of my followers would know dearest Elspeth was my maid of honor at my wedding so reed, being the thoughtful little fellow that he is, thought she would appreciate a framed copy of this picture:


And, knowing his love for all things Thomas the Tank Engine, Ellie got reed this:

We broke them out for bath time tonight and Reed was pretty thrilled that he could pick up ole Percy and draw not only on himself but on the walls of my bathtub.

Originally I was going to recap the entire weekend, family Christmas included but it turned into the world's longest post that wasn't even holding my attention. So this shall be a two (or maybe three if I'm feeling extra crazy) parter. Sadly, I have no really amazing cliff hanger for anyone.