bagel Christmas….

i must say that our bagel Christmas extravaganza was everything i hoped it would be! even with high expectations, the evening didn’t disappoint. we all met at kelly’s new corporate apartment (i love typing that), we loaded up in becca’s suv and went to dinner. we had dinner at rockbottom, which i highly recommend! tom and i will be making a meal of my leftovers tonight! huge portions-delicious food! after dinner we went back to the apartment to open gifts. holy cow.  i felt like a kid again! i knew that with this group of girls, everyone would put their heart into the gifts….and we did. each and every gift was just amazingly awesome. or as becca would say- awesomesauce. this group has some crazy talent. i still can’t believe that i took on a project (for my gifts) that required sewing. ha. i am not a seamstress by any stretch, but i have to say, i am glad that i tried it. plus, i know this group appreciates the effort and don’t expect perfection (which is a good thing)

when i got home last night, i looked through my bag of goodies and i just can’t even get over how special all the handmade gifts are. denise painted a custom painting for each of us. we were oohing and ahhing over the wrapping and gift tags before we even opened them!

love them so much!!!

sweet wrapping by glue-

can you say adorable? so glue and yet so me….we all know each other and our taste soooo well.

kelly is one of the best gift-givers i know. she outdid herself with these quilted perpetual calendars.

perfection, right?

becca gave us all beautiful plates full of baked goodies, candies and snackies. we ate them before i could even take a photo! last night, she surprised us all with her awesome strawberry jam. it is SO good! i ate it on my english muffin this morning and also used it in buttercream frosting for my mom’s birthday tea party. she also baked a fresh peach pie that was out of this world delicious! it was actually my birthday pie : )

mmmm. makes my mouth water.

miley blew me away with her gift to us-

the gorgeous paper wreath on my new piece. i had just done some vintage book sculptures…i think the wreath compliments them perfectly! i can’t wait to get the wreath hung up! love it!

the light was low, but we were determined to take a group shot, using kelly’s remote and my timer-

love these girls. we’re missing holly. hoping she will be back with us again soon.

i have to also share kelly’s coffeetable. kelly and becca came out to fremont antiquing a couple of weeks ago and kelly found this unique and cool cobbler’s bench. it’s perfect!

and her yellow/cream houndstooth chairs are stunning!

oh and one more thing. the pillows i made for gifts-

i had never worked with burlap before….and it wasn’t that bad, other than tearing up my hands. and now, i want to make more.

it took me all day, but i am finally wrapping up my post. tomorrow, i’ll post a *b* list. it’s a fun one….although, it’s not original.

today would have been my gramps’ birthday. his birthday never passes without me thinking a lot about him and the influence he had on my life.  he was a truly GREAT man.

God bless the remainder of your day!