LET THE FESTIVITIES BEGIN

Things are movin' and shakin' at the Riley house! Winter break has begun for Drew and me ... finally! I feel like I've been living at my job, and need to be home doing Christmas things. I have a little bit of shopping left to do, and haven't begun wrapping. Seems like every time I turn around, the kids or I have a celebration of some sort to attend, and the kids' and John's work schedules are insane!

The coolest thing going on here is that my mom arrived in Phoenix yesterday! Her sister flew with her to make sure she got here safely and then flew back home the same day .... what an angel! I am very much looking forward to spending Christmas, and my mom's Christmas Day birthday with her, my kids & hubby, and my foster sister & her family! (I spent last Christmas in Omaha with my Mom in a blizzard away from my kids and hubby.) We are going to have so much fun!

About the above photo .... I picked up these jars at Ikea a few weeks ago, stamped one of my favorite images on it (Merry & Bright, retired), colored it, punched it out, tied a ribbon around the neck of the jar, then filled it with candies, and gave them to some of my co-workers last week. I got such a kick out of some of them ..... "them" as in "non-crafty people". Although I've seen these little jars over and over again on stamping blogs throughout the years, these simple little jars were spectacular in the eyes of their non-crafting recipients. What I considered a quick and simple project became a wonderful reminder of how much joy our crafting can bring to others!

I have some catching up to do on my blog reading so iPICKS may be a day or two late. :(