Gifts

Recently, we spoke (at length, as usual) about giving gifts. Today seems an appropriate time to think about receiving gifts. The first, and most important thing to remember is that not all gifts come wrapped in pretty paper and sometimes, it's a question of recognizing a gift when it comes our way.

This Christmas, as we reflect on the past year, we are grateful for the gift of friendship. We have met some really kind and wonderful people through this blog. And all of them are wonderfully talented as well. Some are great quilters. Some talented knitters. Many are artists who work in a whole host of media. Some realize they're artists and some don't know it yet. Some have a talent for friendship and we may value them most of all.

This Christmas, we are grateful for the gift of eyesight since we spent the summer without it.

This Christmas, we are grateful for something silly that the giver probably didn't even know she gave us (except that we already wrote and thanked her). We're allergic to milk (little known fact) and we haven't tasted a peanut butter cup in over 20 years. We've been able to work around lots of other treats so we can enjoy some of what "normal" people enjoy but never those peanut butter cups. Not, that is, until Paula (the Vanilla Bean Baker) offered up her recipe on her blog this week. She says it comes from Joy of Baking and we were able to tweak it very simply by substituting milk-free margerine and fancy dark chocolate. Such a gift!

This Christmas, we are grateful for the gift of our dad's company. This is his 90th Christmas Day and that's a lot of Christmases. We will treasure it.

The Cocos, Christmas 2011

And last, but by no means least, this Christmas, we are grateful for the gift of love and companionship that we are given every single day. That's the gift that makes it Christmas all year long. May every one of you be so blessed.