My favorite Christmas gifts

I was so blessed this Christmas with wonderful gifts, large and small, that it is hard to chose just a few favorites. And interestingly-I am just as enthralled with these smallish items as I am my large lamp!

These absolutely stunning notecards are one of my FAVORITE Christmas gifts this past year, given to my by Linda, my mother in law. They are so lovely, I can hardly part with them. I am an avid snail-mail writer and just LOVE anything to do with the subject. I can go quite overboard with it all, truly, but it is a love of mine.

My MOST favorite gift of all, I would say, would be the wax candles and seals that my hubby (donning his bright red Santa Suit) gave to me.

I have had one candle and one seal since I was about 15 years old and I have HOARDED the wax, sealing an envelope only on envelopes which held great treasures within, not knowing where (or IF) I could find more candles. My husband knew this and searched some out. Perhaps for this reason these are my favorite gift. I have waited a LONG time for them, and the thought behind them makes them that much more special to receive. I now am the proud owner of red, silver, and gold wax candles as well as a rose, and monograms 'R' and 'N' seals. I think every letter, henceforth, will be graced with a seal of my very own. Such an elegant touch.



On a (somewhat) related topic:

The other day I had a meeting with some church ladies to plan a Valentine-Making party for the Women's Fellowship. During this meeting, one of the ladies brought out a few resource catalogs. When she handed me the Victorian Trading Co. stars lit up eyes and I couldn't bring myself to look anywhere else. The oohs and ahhs that proceeded from my mouth must have convinced her that I needed it more than she and so I got to bring the treasure home. I am in LOVE. Granted, I can't afford ANYTHING in the catalog-but just LOOKING through it (for two hours yesterday) made me feel happy inside. Is that weird? Yeah-probably. But, I have always known that about myself.

I got online to request a more RECENT catalog at their website and realized that they also have clothing, furniture, stationary and candle catalogs. I will not give in to THOSE temptations though...

If you are a days-gone by kinda gal, go and request yourself a catalog and if you are a lucky lady with extra bills burning holes in your pockets-spend extravagently and tell me about it (or better yet-post pictures on your blog!) so I can live vicariously through your wealth! :-)