Wonderful surprise, in common and reflection

- It was so exciting to open my mailbox when I returned home on Saturday to find this package, all the way from Singapore!  Our lovely Betty from the So Shiok! blog (which seems to be down at the moment) sent me this as a Christmas surprise.  She had blogged about Cadbury's TimeOut bars and I said I didn't think we have those here.  I had completely forgotten about that - so what a nice surprise.  Plus there were some chopsticks!  As you can see - I had one of those bars and it was just as good as she said.

- So wonderful that multiple bloggers have the same taste in reading that I do.  Both Elephant's Child and Lee love Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, too, and both commented on my Wacissa River post from Friday about the book (and film) Cross Creek and her novel The Yearling.  Rawlings lived in nearby Alachua County, Florida.  When I worked at the county library in Milledgeville, Georgia during my high school years, the librarian, Mrs. Smith used to recommend The Yearling to anyone who was looking for something good to read.  It was her favorite book + she had a correspondence relationship with Ms. Rawlings.  Remarkable really.  I love both books and when I weeded out paperbacks when I got the new bookcase (preferring to just put mostly hardbacks on the shelves), I kept these four old, treasured books.

- I love the sparkle of the Christmas lights reflected in the print in the living room.  I'm sad to see the decorations come down, but come down, they must.  That print was given to me by my grandfather when I was a teenager.  He knew I loved artwork - not sure where it came from, but it is of (of all things) Washington's Second Inauguration.  I kept it in a trunk and finally had it framed about 25 years after he gave it to me.

No year end post for me this year - I actually just realized this is my last post for 2013!  :)  I wish you all a Happy New Year!