Well Received

The best of all gifts around any Christmas tree:
the presence of a happy family all wrapped up in each other.
-Burton Hillis

All the Christmas gifts were well-received and the handknit gifts can now be discussed on the blog. . . . Unfortunately, I neglected to take photos of all of them in my rush to get them in the mail. (So Dad, this serves as your reminder to send the modeled photos along.)

In no particular order, I made

• Trekking Socks for my dad. See how much he loves Handknit Socks?
• Fetching for my mom. She also loves handknits. (Blogged here for holiday secrets.)
• Facecloths (with complimentary soaps) for the beau's family - 3 linen, 2 cotton, and 1 chenille - the beau's eight-year-old neice loved the reverse bloom washcloth
  
• A hat and scarf set for my uncle
• A scarf for my cousin (who made the ornament to the right - how cute, even a little scarred from the move)
  

The knitted gifts were well-received, but several things were even better:

• Meeting the beau's whole family. Speaking of being well-received . . .
• The ornament to the right - it's gorgeous, unique (made from ashes from the Mt. St. Helen's explosion in 1980), and sentimental (Kate D's mom gave it to me last Christmas)
  
• And the best surprise? My brother and my beau collaborated for several weeks on a video conference call between me and my family on Christmas. I don't know who was more surprised - my mom or me - but it was great. I even got to say hi to the dog! Definitely the next best thing to being home for Christmas.

I hope all your handknit gifts were just as well-received. If you're now itching to knit for yourself, check out Jen's It's Not a Gift 2.0 Knitalong. Should be a great time.