Your Favorite Scrapbook Gifts for Christmas?

Welcome back to blog-world, after that little break we all took for Christmas. I have to admit, the only day I stayed entirely away from the computer was Christmas Day itself. We didn’t go out of town, but stayed close to home attending family events. On Christmas Day, after all the gift opening madness, just our little family went out for a fancy dinner. We spent scads of cash, and ate whatever we wanted for desert without worrying about calories or the future additions to our tushies. I mean, once a year, ya gotta throw caution to the wind, right? I hope you all had a fabulous Christmas as well.

I was lucky to receive some wonderful gifts. My MIL got us a set of those glass photo coasters, telling us how she was up very late the night before going through old photos to put in a set of coasters for each family. It was so touching to look at those photos, and to think of the care she took to pick them out for each of us. I have to selfishly admit, it was so extra nice to be on the receiving end for once of a gift that involved someone taking the time and love to do a project like that, and making something that we will smile at every time we use it. Thanks MIL ~ you rock! And there’s more! Mi madre gave me something handmade and special also. Have you seen those little wire and beaded “wine glass labels”? You know, you’re at someone’s house for a party and everyone is drinking wine, so you put this little cutie around the stem of your glass, then just remember, “Oh, I have the green one.” Well, my mom made me two sets of them and they’re personalized with the names of all our extended family (i.e. the folks we party with). The “girls” set is for we wine drinkers, and has little girly colored beads and grape charms, with our little tiny name tags. Then the boys set has boy colored beads and little beer charms. I figure we can hang them from the tabs of the beer cans, or insist that DH stick to longnecks which will absolutely break his heart (NOT).

Speaking of Mr. ScrapbookObsession, one of my bestest gifts was a $100 gift card to Starbucks (aka StarCrack) from him and the kids. Now, this was a HUGE thing coming from my Way Better Half, “he who always has a sarcastic comment about my level of latte consumption.” But the little note on the card holder said a thank you for all my late nights working and may this card help me get through those nights. I swear, sometimes he makes me so mad I just ball up my fist and say, “Straight to the moon!” and then he does stuff like the Starbucks gift and I decide to keep him forever :)

There was a thread on CKMB about “What gifts did we buy ourselves?”, so I was glad to see I wasn’t alone. “DH” bought me a cute pair of black shoes, and a huge book about the art of Rome. (Yeah, he was more surprised than I was when I opened them…and he was pretty impressed with ‘his’ gift buying abilities). The plan is also to get me an iPhone, hopefully later this week, AFTER we see how much the washing machine repair is going to cost. Yeah, I might have to take one for the team. As I started opening my gifts this year, I have to admit to a teeny tiny drop of disappointment when nothing was scrappy related. However, when my mom arrived lastnight with gifts from she and from my brother’s family, my faith was restored. My SIL (okay, we know my brother didn’t think of this) got me 3 Perfect Pages scrapbook kits from Colorbok, called Family Ties, Christmas and School Days. I’ve never seen them and was so happy to see something that didn’t come from Michaels or Costco, which is about the only scrapbook shopping I get to do anymore with all the LSS’s gone. To top it off, my mom got me a pack of scrapping stuff that she had hand picked from her LSS – papers, embellishments, large eyelets for my Cropadile, and {GOD BLESS HER} some Bazzill cardstock to match it all. So, my little Scrap Angels did take care of me after all. While we all watched We Are Marshall tonight, I just sat there stroking my new goodies, looking through them over and over. I think all eyes were on the TV, so no one saw my Scrapbook-Obsessive behavior. It’ll just be our little secret, kay?

The best “gift” I was given was so many opportunities to take wonderful pictures for my scrapbooks: warm family dinners; candlelight ceremony at Christmas Eve church; Christmas Day walk on the beach; and ~ the best ~ catching the amazed and happy faces of my kids as they saw each new present. I want to journal the wonderful conversations we had and remember this Christmas always…

What were your best gifts this year? Any scrapbook-y kinds of gifts? C’mon, we all want to hear about them! Anything scrapbook-related you were really hoping for but didn’t get? Tell us how your Christmas went…