Not So Secret Santa

I organize the Secret Santa activity at my school. This year I am sending to a good, artistic friend of mine. I wanted to give her fun things. This first gift was inspired by a "Stress Week" gift pack I saw at the scrapbooking store. That one had recovered post-it note pack, recovered box of gum, one other food item and a card. It was flying out of the door at $12. I decided I could make mine own, and do a quick job of it. I found a small notebook with pink paper inside (Susan's favorite color), a bar of dark chocolate (every adult girl needs this) and a pack of gum. I love the ones that come in the little box. I thought I was being clever by making the decorations understated. Come on, there are 123 on staff here, surely many of them. craft. But, NO! (Okay, maybe there are closet crafters, anyway, I digress...) I was found out on the first day. She said the recovered gum box was what tipped her off. Oh well (sigh), now I don't have to find a kiddo to deliver things for me. On day two I gave her a fab "Fresh Cranberries" candle from Bath and Body Works. I thought this would throw her off. I found out that afternoon that she was onto me. Today she got one of my fun snowflakes (see the post below). Thursday is our "big gift" day. I had so much fun making the sled. I got the idea from the Cricut Messageboard. (Cricut.com) It took a while as each side of the sled is three layers to give it strength. I am nestling a Starbucks gift card inside of it.

My own Secret Santa has been amazing. On day one I got a mat stack, a fun item I never buy for myself. On days two and three I got those HUGE DCWV Stack with 180 pages, each. She is really going overboard, but I must admit that it is fun to get. She is way beyond our $15 limit. She just moved into her new house and is hoping to get engaged on Christmas day ( I am hopeful for her, too) so I am trying to come up with something fun to make for her.

The Used Auto Fairy confirred with my mechanic and said the Honda Odyssey is a screaming deal, so we pick her up on Thursday. My kids already named her Serenity. Yeah, I know it is a little odd to name our vehicles, but fun, too.

On a more sad note, I check the news often for news of James Kim. I am thrilled that his wife and girls are all found and doing well, but I still worry for him. This event makes me appreciate the simple things we have in our lives. My husband reading his book on the couch, my daughter reading AL CAPONE DOES MY SHIRTS and my son planning our next summer garden.

I read a short article in the newspaper that really spoke to me. The person is doing research on happiness. She herself is very stressed. She has been trying an experiment. Each night before she does to bed she thinks about three good things from the day. Then she things about what it took for those things to happen and/or what she did that led to them. She reported that it has made an amazing difference in her life. Being thankful is one thing, being conscious of your part in that magic and finding the way to create it again is empowering.