Yippee! Skippee! Look what I got!

Hi all! When we arrived home on Sunday after spending a wonderful Christmas with family, there was a ton of stuff sitting on our dining room table awaiting our attention. There was a significant pile of newspapers from the past few days and you know what they say about "old news", wait, that's "no news"...sigh...whatever the case may be, into the recycling they went. What caught my attention, however, was the huge pile of mail. It mostly consisted of the usual fair; catalogues begging us to order by Christmas Eve guaranteeing Christmas Day delivery (yeah, right), a few bills, a couple of fabulous Christmas cards (love to receive cards!), and a couple of packages.

Oooohhh...packages! The excitement started to build! I decided to open the smaller of the two and inside I found a lovely Christmas card from our friend Wanda in Iowa and her son Sean along with a 10-pack of Altoid Gum!! We loooooovvvveee Altoid Gum and it is so hard to find here in Albuquerque, at least in the quantities that we chew it. Sure, you can pick up the occasional pack at the check out aisle of a couple of stores, but that seems rare and certainly doesn't last long. Costco used to carry the 10-pack and then abruptly stopped, making our lives miserable and causing us to turn to lesser gums :( We even looked online only to find that shipping costs were outrageous (come on, it's gum, people)!! So this little treasure trove of gummy goodness arriving in our mailbox was a truly inspired gift ;D Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU, Wanda and Sean!! I don't know if you read my blog, but we surely do appreciate it!

Next, I moved to the larger package. One glance at the front of the box and I realized it was from ABC Toys and Crafts, an online store that I frequent periodically. Earlier in the month I had posted a comment on their blog where they announced a contest giveaway. The winner would be chosen by a random number generator. Mind you, I have never won anything by entering a blog contest, so I did not have delusions of grandeur as I entered this one. However, a few days before Christmas, I was contacted by Justine at ABC Toys and Crafts...I HAD WON!!! Now, as I stared at this box that held my prize, it immediately made me think of the movie, A Christmas Story, specifically the scene where the father receives his "major award", pries open the crate and begins to spew packing straw all over while he goes for an archaeological dig to the bottom of the box hunting for his prize. That was it, I could wait no longer, I grabbed my car keys and began to rip through the packing tape on the box. I know... a woman who owns 15 pairs of scissors and various cutting implements opts for car keys to open packages is simply ridiculous, but there I was, ready to "drive" this puppy home...LOL!!

Inside I found an enormous assortment of paper crafting goodies, ranging from Martha Stewart punches (that's plural, mind you), My Cute Stamps stamp sets (plural again), Making Memories Glimmer and Color sets, paper flowers, and a huge assortment of embellishments. A prize package worth around $200!! WOW! I have included a picture of my good fortune, not to brag, but to say "thank you" to ABC Toys and Crafts for being so generous and for selecting my post, even if it was random. This was a most excellent post-Christmas surprise ;D Want to see all the fabulous products they carry? Check them out here: ABC Toys and Crafts And don't forget to visit their blog here: ABC Design Blog

Thanks for hanging out with me today and wading through this marathon blog post ;D