The house is quiet again and the world is picking up where it left us off for the holiday. Ours was lovely and full of the best gifts of all, love and happiness. 

Decorating ~

and favorite foods ~

Mo's sweet potatoes roasted with honey and cinnamon.

An ongoing workshop of pretty gift wrappings ~

Erin carved potato stamps for kraft paper.

Maggie used her rubber stamps to turn paper bags into keepsakes.

Mo got out a big sharpie and made her own hand-lettered bw graphic on newsprint.

Andy gave up his usual blueprint wrapping, bought a giant coloring book from the craft store $1 bin and tore out the pages. His wrapping included boxes of crayons too.

The celebration and sharing ~ 

My cute mom had the best day, overwhelmed with love and gifts. Door #3 pretty much put her over the edge.

This year Andy made a book for each of the girls. It was the story of his secret recipe for clam chowder, a kitchen tradition he's shared with them since they were little. The dedication and page one intro had everyone in tears. 

And it all finished up late into the night with Andy's Christmas birthday to celebrate too with family and friends. 

How lucky we are to have each other! 

That includes you, my friends. I hope it was a happy garland of days, each one a link to remind us of the joys and gifts a year strings together. xo