Secret Santa 2009

A little late for true Christmas, but given everyone was busy for the holidays with families and friends, we exchanged gifts Monday after New Years when the spirit of the holidays still haven't flown away yet.

My secret Santa was LP and here are my Christmas presents:

A wooden box hand covered with a beautiful flower print cloth. Wait till you see the inside.

The cover contains a white meshwork. I'll probably put the Secret Santa photo with everyone in there. LP painted the edge of the box with gold paint which matches the deep blue of the cloth perfectly. I can hang my many earrings on the tacked red ribbons. To add to my earring collection, I also received a pair of dainty pink pearl earrings, again handmade by LP. (The three black objects are wisteria seeds. More in next post.)

On the back wall of the box sits a simple music maker, officially making this a wonderful little music box. My first.

I don't know what song it plays, but it sounds incredibly soothing. I especially like it when the spring winds down and the gears slow, like a last contented sigh before a beautiful thing ends.

Thank you LP, I'll also treasure this and it will hold wonderful memories starting with this year's super successful secret Santa.

Random Butters picture:

Christmas 2009...

was spent with some of my favorite people. Two friends of my parents whom I actually like, G and her cousin, my brother, and L.

My Christmas present. I really like it. It's shiny. =)

I helped my mom with some of the dinner preparations, but she mostly finished the dishes on her own while my brother, L and I pruned the roses for the year. We drove around the block the night before and checked a neighbor's yard who has a rose garden. They've pruned theirs so it's time to prune ours.

Dinner:

Potato salad (center), some white stick thing (top), mushroom medley, chicken, fish, stuffed jalapeno, slow-cooked meat, duck, fish. Later, mom cooked some spring rolls which she showed me how to make, that'll be another post.

Afterwards, we left the adults to go to AU79 for some boba.

Someone tried to get into the picture. I had a honey soy milk tea from their new menu. It was alright. The menu had fewer drinks and more snacks. I prefer the other way around.