Gift Giving

How often do you get a gift that makes you gasp and then makes you cry?  (In a good way?) 


On the Jones side of the family, we follow a rotation for a family gift exchange for Christmas. This year was our family's turn to  receive a gift from my youngest sister and her family.  It was one of the most thoughtful gifts I've ever been given.


We need to rewind just a bit to capture the true awesome-ness.  Over a year ago, I posted a picture of this map quilt on my blog. You can read about it here, if you so desire.   
    

I was quite smitten.  I thought it was about the coolest thing I'd ever seen.  Imagine my surprise, over a year later,  when I opened up our gift and saw this:

My sister remembered from all those months ago my gushing over this quilt.  And then she made one for me.  Can you imagine how long it took to make?   


It just blows me away.  Absolutely the perfect gift.   You can tell how my kids feel about it:

(And they also sent a hefty pile of gift certificates to Baskin & Robbins.  Which is also super thoughtful, since we go there about once a week.  It is kind of the "Cheers" of the Skinner family.  They totally our name.)


Allow me to quote a line from one of my favorite books, "Love Walked In" by Marisa de los Santos:

"I just never thought anyone else knew that.  If I can apologize in advance for sounding like some idiot high school girl, I'd just like to say that I feel so - gotten."

That describes perfectly how I felt when I opened the gift, so gotten.


I have a good friend Jeanette, who is an awesome gift giver.  She always seems to give the perfect gift.  I asked her about it once and she modestly shrugged it off and said, "Gift giving is easy.  You just have to pay attention when people are talking.  When So-in-So talks about her new obsession with Quick Trip hot chocolate, I think 'I should get her a gift card to Quick Trip.' "  And when Jeanette said it like that, it seemed both completely obvious and completely genius at the same time.  Just pay attention when people talk.


It is something I have tried to apply in my life.  Clearly, my little sister has already mastered this principle.


*Incidentally, you may be wondering, what gift did we give this year as part of the family rotation?  My oldest sister's family got a few seasons of "Pysch" on dvd and small mountain of treats.  Not quite a homemade quilt, but can you really put a price on Shawn and Gus and large quantities of sugar?


**Technically I got two gifts that made me feel gotten.  I am currently typing on the second gasp-inducing-gift.  Thanks Marky.  

Some Christmas Happenings

The season starts with Christmas in the Sky (Fireworks timed to Christmas music over Longview Lake. I may have mentioned a time or two Kansas City's obsession with fireworks.)  We meet up with friends, drink hot chocolate, and enjoy the show.

We take list making very seriously around these parts. We got several lists from each child. I think they found the need to supply us with weekly updates.

Lots of wrapping.  Lots and Lots.

Decorating the tree happened way too late this year, nearly mid December.  I had some church duties the first 2 weeks of December that left me with little time for decorating.  And then we had some pre-lit tree issues.  (Our grand solution was to add another string of lights over the non-working pre lit lights.)

A last minute dinner party with friends.  (I originally planned on making something lovely but reality intervened and we ended up getting take out from Pei Wei.)

Dessert was by Trudy's Treats.

Christmas in the Park.

Christmas Treats.

Christmas Decor (once it finally got up.)

Plaza Lights.

Christmas Eve dinner at Houstons on the Plaza.

Chevron stripes, No matter the size

I saw this dress in Old Navy the other day.  It is a 5T.  My youngest has grown out of the 5T's awhile ago.  But I couldn't resist and bought it.

She wears it more as a long shirt (tunic?) than a dress and loves it as much as I do.  

Ready Player One by Ernest Cline
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I am going to give this 5 stars for pure enjoyment value.   I am not a gamer or a sci-fi fan but I had a lot of fun listening to this book.  (Read by Will Wheaton by the way.)  Tons of great 80's references.  Likeable characters.  SUPER fun plot.  When I finished, I found myself thinking about the book constantly.  Always the sign of a good read.

Content note: Beware of some occasional strong language, the narrator is a teenage boy after all.

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Christmas Day, Church edition

After my posting about Christmas Dresses, I thought it only fair and proper to add pictures of the the dresses with us in them.  

We had one hour church on Christmas day, a real treat for us Normally-Three-Hour-Long-Sunday-Services-Mormons.  It was lovely, I think Christmas and Church are a great pairing, so it was fun to have Christmas actually on a Sunday.  

(I even made the boys take a pic.  Some were more compliant than others.)

P.S. I just may be posting more.  I happened to get a very fancy computer under the tree this year. 

Search for Christmas Dresses 2011

One of my favorite Christmas traditions from childhood is having a Christmas Dress.  Every year my sisters and I would get Christmas dresses to wear the first Sunday before Christmas. When we were young, they were matching. (Awesome.)  I have particular memories of turquoise Gunny Sax-esque little numbers that we all looked pretty spiffy in.  When we were older we picked them out ourselves. I have carried that tradition with my girls but have had very little luck finding Christmas dresses for myself.

This year's selections:

I found this sweet lace dress for my youngest at H&M.

It was only $10. (Did I mention Kansas City got it's first H&M?  Hooray!)

I spotted this skirt, also at H&M, for my oldest.  I haven't picked it up yet (I wanted to run it by her before I purchased.)  I hope they still have it!  This would look super cute paired with this cardigan from Target.



I was happily surprised to find this dress for me at Forever 21 of all places.  Combining two of my latest favorites: lace and pleats.

The Night Circus

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Finally. I have been waiting for a really good read for quite some time. This book has a phenomenal plot, one of the most interesting and unique plots I've read in that last few years. The writing was beautiful, very descriptive but not overly so. The characters were engaging and charming. The story unfolded in an unusual way, following various people involved with the circus until all the storylines came together in the end.

Highly, highly Recommended.

I must add that I listened to this book on CD. It was read by the incomparable Jim Dale (of Harry Potter fame.) This may be why I loved the book so.

Content note: Super clean, one swear word in the entire book.

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Freshman Homecoming, A little shameless bragging

My daughter was Freshman Homecoming Royalty this year. Which where we live is a pretty darn big deal.

This may seem like all kinds of shameless bragging in some ways it came as a surprise.

As you may know, our church is pretty important to us.  Raising lovely, well adjusted, successful kids is pretty important to us.  Because those two things are our top priorities, we don't worry so much about the popularity thing or being cool.   We have set our standards high and make no apologies for it.

But sometimes, as a parent, you worry about how your kids will be accepted at school and among their peers.  You absolutely want them to live to values and standards, but you also want them to have a positive social experience through the school years and not be some social pariah.

When Hailey was voted Homecoming Royalty, we decided we didn't need to worry about the social pariah thing so much anymore.  (I guess it doesn't hurt that she sort of looks like a barbie doll, albeit with braces.)

Like I mentioned, turns out Homecoming is a big deal.  This being our first foray into High School, we had no idea what to expect. The homecoming experience started out with an all school assembly:

 She had to choose escorts (and supply their matching outfits):

 

And walk out front of the entire school:

My dad was in town and got to witness the festivities:

Next event, parade through downtown.

She rode in a parade with her good buddy, who is like a brother to her, another member of the Freshman Homecoming Court. 

 

Later that night, Half Time at the football game, escorted by Mark and I:

Next night?  Attending her first High School Dance. 

We are quite proud of our daughter and how she willingly chooses to live her life.

P.S. Did you happen to notice her Homecoming dress?  The most adorable thing you've ever seen, is it not?  She looked amazing in it.  A-MAZ-ING.  She got compliments everywhere we went.  No one seemed to notice that it actually had straps, (sleeves even!) and a modest length.  Score one for high standards.