from Marian

I thoroughly enjoyed volunteering at Marian's school's Holiday Store this year. The Holiday Store is a long and popular tradition there, and has historicallybeen stocked with dollar store-type items for kids to come and buy as gifts for family members. The new ladies in charge have made it into more of a gift-making session, which of course I love. When Marian came with her stack of quarters to "shop", I steered her towards a notepad holder that I thought I might find useful. "Uh-uh, Mom! I have something even better!" she assured me with a smug smile. Two or three times since I opened the little painted box on Christmas morning, she has asserted: "I told you you would love it even more. Especially because it has a picture of your little sweetheart." (The school provided stickers of the picture day photos. This one cracks me up).The classroom parent gift project is also adorned with a photo of my little sweetheart. They decorated the frame with cut pieces of a recycled CD, which I thought was clever, and "color-tinted" black and white photo copies of a photo taken in the classroom with color pencils.Check out the green eyes. The frame sits on my bedside table and yes, it does scare me a little.
Alien possession!!