This holidays was filled with such emotion for me! Such swings of the heart in one direction and then another. The seasons of life have been so evident during the family celebrations this year. There have been intensely sweet and bittersweet moments. There have been bust-your-gut funny moments, and tearfully sad moments.
My mother's sweet smile
I have been so keenly aware of how quickly the years slip by...my parents age, my children grow and mature, I welcomed new babies, and prayed "God be with you" to the nephew who is headed to Iraq.
I received a Christmas card telling me of a dear friend's heartache marriage break-up, and I attended a party the same week to celebrate a couple's 50th anniversary!
Families shift and roles change. Some chairs were noticeably empty at family gatherings, and at other gatherings... new chairs had to be brought in. I am thankful to a God who is the same loving God each and every day through the ups and downs, joys and tears of life. He is my ROCK!
Bob and I shared our first Christmas together as a family. What a blessing to have him and all my kids together for Christmas.
Now...there were all kinds of crafts taking place, but like a doofus, I was always in such a hurry to finish I didn't get pictures. So I will post one of the projects I actually have the before and after.
My dear Mother-in-Law told me as a young married woman she was gifted a pink M'Lady Tool Kit. She received one new tool a month, in the mail, for her kit for a year. She has enjoyed her M'Lady Tool Kit through the years. The only down side to it was none of the men in her life enjoyed the pinkness of the tool kit, although everyone always appreciated she knew right where her tools were at all times.
She wanted me to do a craft project with these tool kits she purchased.
With a glue gun, ribbon, felt, and buttons and such I covered up the logo and gave all these a "girly" touch, along with printing the saying she wanted on the front. There were five kits and each one was a little different.
Good grief, that's a terrible picture! It was really quite cute and bright and not blurry. ERRRR.
This is not the end of the story. My MIL had a plan B. If the female recipient couldn't do it by herself, then she wanted a more masculine side of the tool kit for the male helper who might have to step in and complete the task.
I thought this was very clever for my 80 year old mother-in-law, and enjoyed hearing her thinking it all through. The kits were a big hit with all the girls, and I think would make a cute wedding shower gift.
Here is another one of my homemade gifts for my son-in-law, Jonathan. I really struggled to paint something using no pink, yellow, girly-swirly stuff. I think my restraint paid off and he liked it! Uh-oh...there ARE some swirly things on that picture...but they are very manly swirls, aren't they?
Okay, at last a first post for 2009!
