Fairy parcels

I'm not much of a joiner of things. I don't send on chain letters or emails, I subscribe to forums, get very enthusiastic initially then disappear, I don't go along to expat events; I just don't. But recently I saw on a blogging friend's blog details of little present swaps -http://thesocietyofsecretfairies.blogspot.com/ - and it sparked my interest. I didn't realise that everyone involved were illustrators, artists, craftspeople - people with real talent who make a good living from their skills. If I'd realised that I probably wouldn't have joined.
Well, yesterday my parcel arrived from this lovely lady here- http://deboraburr.blogspot.com/. She is a Proper Artist. In fact the criteria for this Christmas swap was a home made card and decoration and when I saw her card my initial reaction was she didn't bother to make the card, what a copout, she just bought a fancy one from a good shop. Then I looked carefully at the name on the back and realised it was indeed done by her. The decoration was also a work of art - a cardboard pyramid shape that opened in segments to reveal a pressie inside - also homemade. A very unusual giftie of beads and silver that you drape around a glass or mug so that you know the right one to pick up. Excellent!

There were such pretty things that she had bought me: some lovely foot gel; some pretty yellow bed socks (Deb, how did you know I get cold feet?); some lavender incense sticks;another of her beautiful cards; a Christmas pud chocolate which I ate whilst opening all the red-wrapped goodies; a lovely pale apricot chiffon scarf - the long drapey sort; and, because my bichons had donated their hair to make her Christmas card, she had bothered to go and buy them a foodie treat. What a lovely lady! She's had a rotten time of it lately and yet she still went to extra trouble to think of the dogs. Thank you so much, Deb. I sincerely hope that 2007 is a better year for you.