papercrafting scientists prove existence of an "embellishment gene"

SEE??!?!??!

exhibit a: festive evergreen bag designed by niece madeline,

aged 4 1/2 (tree outline drawn by mommy)

my sister amie--who of course has seen me work--could not wait to tell the story of this giftbag: having discovered rather late that she did not have a christmas bag big enough to fit my present, she asked if maddie (dead keen to "help" in the wrapping process) would color in the large tree she drew on a plain white bag. please note this was the extent of motherly instruction. after the tree was colored, madeline decided that it needed lights, and remembered these diecut ones leftover from a nursery school project. and of course a lit tree without a star is just ridiculous, right?! later in the day, several hours after the bag had been...seemingly...finished, the artiste decided it really needed some ornaments, too (can you say "allergic to white space"?!???!) and at this point the sticker-adhering process (which apparently took quite some time) began. finally the angel tag was added and the piece was pronounced complete...but possibly only because the divine little miss m. has not yet heard of "rub-ons"?!!!!!!!!?

xmas round up... (avec adorable niece-based photos, naturellement) ...to follow tomorrow or monday!