This year, we racked and racked our brains over the ‘perfect gift’ to give one another, and came up with three!  Well, technically four….. Umm, let’s make that five. What can we say? We were on our best behavior in 2012.

Meet gifts 1,2,and 3: Martha Jane, Vina, and Evelyn.  Thanks to our cyber friend, Deb, who guided us through the process, we are now the proud owners of three mannequins. And, since the word ‘mannequin’ seemed a bit cold/harsh, we named these children in honor of our loved ones! Martha Jane is in honor of our mother, who always liked the name, Jane {although never a part of her ‘real name’}, and signed elementary school papers as Martha Jane – instead of her true middle name of Frances. Bet you didn’t see that one coming! Vina and Evelyn are in memory of our grandmothers – paternal and maternal.

Gift 4: We purchased a domain name – francessuzanne.com. And, to save you the time and trouble of looking: don’t go there….there’s nothing on it, nor do we know if there will ever be anything there. We just didn’t want to have “domain remorse” – if it were ever ‘unavailable.’

Gift 5: Fabric shopping road trip!!  This will always make the gift list. Again, justification to spend money on our passion.

And, since sewing for the nieces have become our obsession passion, the family didn’t disappoint in helping with the cause! Mom and dad gave us two much-needed magnetic pin holders – since Emily had dropped the one we had been using one too many times {hence, the MacGyver-style rubberbanded approach}.

They also gave Ashley the book, Oliver + S Little Things to Sew…..a needed addition to our sewing, since a Valentines’ Day gift for the nieces is dependent on it!

I don’t know what was better – the creative packaging OR the amazing {and HILARIOUS} “Twas the Night Before Christmas” spin-off poem that accompanied it!  She said we gave her ‘plenty of material to work with!’ Some Oscar-winning excerpts included, but are not limited to:

Best real-life reference:
Twas an ordinary night at the **** residence
When Ash said to Em, “This pattern doesn’t make sense.”

Best real-life reference honorable mention:
Candy corn scattered across the table late December
Must give their brains a late-night jolt of things to remember…

Best rhyme (although coupon / groupon was a close runner-up):
My excitement soared high and my nerves….how they tingled!
I felt like the female version of the jolly Kris Kringle.

Best reference to an old blog post:
“What worries me now is that outfit I have just set to soak;
I’m fearing it will look like a mixture of watered-down coke.”

Best laugh:
I foresaw trips to *** and *** down the road
With trunkfuls of shot cotton and Liberty by the load.

And that, friends, is a glimpse into our family Christmas!! Full of great memories and lots of laughs. We hope you had a spectacular Christmas as well! Were you as good as we were? Any suggestions for next year’s sewing wish list??  It never hurts to plan ahead!! Right??

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