Warm Holiday Fuzzies

Yesterday was a wonderful day - I received gifts from three knitterly friends all at once. There were so many lovely and thoughtful gifts that I felt a bit overwhelmed. Of COURSE I immediately opened them! As Mae West (or was it W.C. Fields?) said "I can resist anything but temptation." I have written to each of them privately to thank them for their generosity, but I will say that along with many other prezzies, I received lavender, two hand-crafted necklaces, stationery, a great new oven mitt, and some lovely, soft Blue Sky Alpaca yarn. You know who you are!

I am much more at ease giving to friends than I am at receiving. It delights me when I find little gifts during the year that will be perfect for this friend or that: lavender soaps or sachets, useful items like the new orange Chibi needles in the smaller gauge than the gold-tone needles, a bit of stationery, a couple of skeins of particularly luscious yarn, and so on. The box in my closet gets pretty full as the year goes by. I am finally getting to be a faster knitter, enough so to allow me to start stockpiling knitted gifts, and one of these went to a friend in my seniors' group. She was very happy with the scarf, and I had the pleasure of choosing a pattern, knitting with the new-to-me yarn, and then giving it to a woman who has become a special friend.

My cousin and his wife - who is awesome at remembering important occasions, like anniversaries and birthdays - send us a variety of clippings they find which would be of interest to us. Along with our holiday card, they sent a copy of a For Better or Worse Sunday cartoon from last year. I found it at the FBorFW website, and I share the holiday sentiment with you, my friends. I include a photo of DH and myself at a festive dinner some years ago. May you all be safe, be warm, and have the very happiest holidays.



And, last but certainly not the least, another friend provided a link to this lovely Toast for the New Year. I find it moving, and most apropos. Listen, and share it with others.