A Merry Chicken Christmas

Today was our annual Chicken group Christmas, hosted most deliciously by Joyce.  This is a day I look forward to each year, beginning the day after the last one!

We had a fabulous cocktail of the day, wonderful food, and plenty of great conversation.  We take an annual picture together:

We also swap a $10 gift from Home Goods.  I got some terrific storage containers in a wire basket, wrapped in some beautiful hand-dyed fabric from Deb (second from right in front row).  I'm using one of the containers to take soup to work for my lunch tomorrow.  My roommate has made boatloads of soup this weekend, but that's another post....

I received wonderful homemade treats from several chickens:

Homemade pita chips, fabulous caramels, delicious mini chocolate chip cake, and truffles from Trader Joe's -- absolutely no chance of dropping any weight before Erica's wedding in less than two weeks.  Then again, you don't have to worry about me starving either.  I love the new dishcloth from Carol and the Gas Gloves & Mary Kay Satin Hand mini set from Joyce.

I stayed up late last night until 1 am this morning sewing 10 of these mini bags for my treats for the Chickens:

Please excuse the lousy picture.  Inside I put some yummy caramels and some Guylian Chocolates -- gotta have something to sustain us while we sew!

Deb showed this wonderful quilt that she finished for her grandson:

Jackie showed a beautiful quilt that she made for her physical therapist who has been so good to her:

It was a kit that she bought from Weeks Ringle and Bill Kerr at their booth at the AQS show in Grand Rapids last August.

Makes me want to SEW!!!  But alas, I will be back at work tomorrow, working feverishly to write more test cases for a website I've only just learned of, although I think a lot of us could stand to visit:  www.allywalletwise.com.  There are all kinds of tips for helping folks understand credit and find ways to make their financial situations better.