A funny Christmas

I always get excited to open the gifts from my dad because it's usually a surprise. I'm not very good at giving hints or ideas as to what I want for Christmas. So when I opened 4 boxes of Clif bars from my dad I wasn't surprised. I mean, he does know I like Clif bars, so why not have a winter's supply of them?

But after opening all of the presents I got hungry. I wasn't hungry enough for lunch yet, so a mini Clif bar sounded perfect to quench my hunger but not leave me wanting more for a couple of hours. I then opened one of the boxes and when I did I realized that Clif boxes don't have green hemp bags in them usually. Maybe it was just a Christmas special? Then I pulled the bag out. It definitely wasn't a Christmas special Clif bar bag!! It was a beautiful belt.

But there's more to this belt than its beauty. You see, my dad sends me the Cowboys and Indians magazine because I like to look at the pictures and he likes the magazine and my kids can use it for projects. In the last issue I received from him I saw an ad for this beautiful "Tuscan Sun" belt by an artist who has named her company Mosaic Goddess. I fell in love with the belt the moment I saw it in the picture and had to check it out on the website. It was expensive, so I couldn't justify buying it right now but I thought the artist, Janice, needed to know how much I love her work and I hope to buy something when I get back to America. I also sent my dad a link to the belt saying, "this would be a great gift for Christmas, but I don't expect you to get it." Well, he did. And I couldn't be happier!

You see, this belt goes even beyond the funny story of how I received it. I absolutely love sunflowers and turquoise. The state flower in Kansas is, ironically, the sunflower, and sunflower oil is one of the main products produced in Moldova. And... mosaics are everywhere. This is the bus stop for Ross' village:

This was a great Christmas. Although I was away from my family, I did get to spend it with Ross- so neither of us were alone. We had Christmas music, movies, lights, decorations, presents, and snow (that started to melt, so it was more like Christmas weather in Louisiana than Kansas or Moldova)...