The week before Christmas, we traded in my 2 wheel drive pick-up truck
and treated ourselves to The Beast- a big Dodge 4 door 4 wheel drive
pick-up truck. It's burgundy and has a HUGE hemi-magnum engine...
horrible gas mileage, but man does it growl nicely and it rides like a
dream! (My poor arthritic joints really appreciate that!) And I was
so touched... at 55 y.o. and a couple of marriages behind me My Hunky
Mr. Collins gave me a birthstone (dark blue sapphire) ring and necklace
with (petite) diamonds and matching birthstone post earrings- the FIRST
jewelry I have ever received from a man other than a wedding ring! He
also gave me a box of chocolates, a burgundy colored compact umbrella
to keep in The Beast, a lighted fishing bobber (for night fishing- I
usually have to shine a flashlight out on the lake to see if I'm
getting a nibble!) and a snazzy bookmarker- I tend to use rubber bands
or pieces of paper. vbg DDS#1 gave me a book- Quilter's Computer
Companion. Now I can try to learn to design with my computer rather
than graph paper and colored pencils. DDS#2 and DDIL bought us a laser
level. I see several of us received them- how do they apply to
quilting??? His DD#1 and DSIL gave me a pretty basket filled with
goodies- shower gel, small quilting supplies, some lovely candies and 4
FQs. My parents gave us a set of sheets- yummy 550 thread count, but
they are the size for the guest room bed... I didn't say anything as it
would have upset mom that she bought queen instead of king. Oh well...
the guest room needs sheets, too. ;-) And my dearest Big Sis (you
know her as Pat on her hill) sent us a marvelous "document" with the
Collins coat-of-arms and family history. What an amazing, fascinating
gift!

We had all our children and spouses and the granddarlings that live
around here for dinner yesterday and had a wonderful time. I think
this was my best Christmas ever- and that's not even including the
gifts and truck!

Leslie (so happy!) & The Furbabies in MO.