what i gave

that moment when all the presents are unwrapped and everyone’s had enough coffee to make them shaky and you crash from the joy of smiles on the people you love.

that is my favorite moment.

when they put on the goods you picked just for them. when they need a kleenex and glasses to look through the words you wrote or the pictures you chose or the instructions for the thing they didn’t know they couldn’t live without.

i love the giving.

i found some great gifts this year, if i do say so myself, and wanted to share them on the off chance that you might have a loved one like mine you want to make smile next birthday, christmas, or tuesday afternoon.

for sisters:

marissa of mishakaudi jewelry made these lovely arrows by hand for my little sisters.*

her collection is full of trendy boho pieces i’m keeping bookmarked for other lovelies in my life.

 

i should also confess how tough it was for me to let these little babies go. i wanted to keep them, and also pick up a few other things from the mishakaudi shop, but once i saw them on my sisters i couldn’t imagine them anywhere else.

you’ve been warned! shop with care. gift with reckless abandon.

for newlyweds:

 tex the longhorn from cardboard safari

my sister-in-law & her new husband packed up their newlywed behinds and moved to texas this summer. i thought these two midwestern kids needed an appropriately ironic taste of the lonestar state to hang on their wall. i found this perfect gift in the mustache shop in fayetteville.

now if i could just find a place for fred the moose on my wall.

for parents:

sister photos by kristin sweeting

is there anything parents love more than pictures of their children?

likewise, is there anything children love more than replacing bad pictures of themselves around the house with ones they like to look at when gathered around the family table?

 

last time i was in nashville, i asked my friend and talented photographer kristin to take a few pictures of emily and me. she made us laugh and smile naturally and come christmas morning, helped us win christmas.

 

 

i can’t recommend kristin enough – for weddings, sister photo shoots, and everything in between. she makes a great strawberry wedding cake also, but i don’t think she’s in the the baking business anymore.

 

for gentlemen:

luke loved this personalized money clip from 3 little pixies shoppe on etsy.

 

 

liz did a beautiful job on the engraving and was beyond helpful in making sure it got to me on christmas eve, despite the postal service’s best efforts to thwart my plans. perfect for a modern gentlemen looking to streamline his life a bit by eliminating some bulky wallet baggage.

***

’twas a merry christmas, indeed, as much for the time with these people as the presents i chose for them.

which was your favorite gift to give this christmas?

 

*the lovely mishakaudi arrows were sent to me for review, but my adoration of the pieces and the girls wearing them is all my own.