home made Christmas

One of my favorite things about Christmas is getting a home made gift.

I love the thought that goes behind a gift made with love.

We have a Christmas Eve tradition in our family.

We draw names at Thanksgiving, and everyone makes a home made gift

to be opened after dinner on Christmas Eve.

This year there were handcrafted pajama pants, a beautiful picture frame, a name plaque, a desk blotter, a lovely skirt and a sock monkey.  The stand-out, however, was the nerd garden

(made with love) by Enrique:

a nerd garden?

She LOVES it.

Also, under the tree this year were not one, but TWO surprises for me:

a hand pieced quilt from my piano student Louise

and

embroidered pillowcases from Lynn,

my friend Heather's mom who lives in upstate NY.

Christmas love.