Celebrations

Sorry--this will be a picture-heavy post.

Today was another great mail day! Look what arrived in my mailbox, courtesy of a certain generous person and Canada post:

The inside's even better than the cover.

And I also got a swap package from Amirah in Malaysia! Thanks to Homeland Security, I can be assured that it is a safe package:

The box was just chock full of goodies, including Malay sweets, tea, and spice packets (can't wait to make those--mmmm!); batik fabrics; a wooden bookmark; a children's book in Malay; a snowglobe for Thing 1 (not pictured here because she'd already whisked it away); beautiful postcards; and a gorgeous bracelet, card, and personalized picture frames Amirah made herself. Big thank you to Amirah!!

Thanks to these swaps, I now have a bowl filled with the most delicious and interesting mix of international candies you've ever seen. It's a trip around the world in sugar.

And now for some picture of the holiday festivities. We acquired a T Rex (which roars and makes stomping noises):

And royalty of some sort:

I made that set out of some nifty sparkly vinyl I found.

Finally, this is a picture I took a couple weeks ago but couldn't post then. Thing 1 drew this picture on burlap and then embroidered it herself, with only a tiny bit of help from me. It is her present to her grandparents, and you can see she's very proud of it.