ornament swap

Early this month, I signed up for Dawn's ornament swap for the holiday season.  I was paired up with Meghan of The Magpie Blog.  Not only did I develop an immediate crush on Meghan's sense of style (for example, here, here, and OMG SHOES here), but also on this awesome photo of her announcing the arrival of the holiday season:

Um, hello?  Adorable much?  I'm definitely Meghan's newest fan.

As if she hadn't already won me over, Meghan scored some serious points with this right here:

I felt so spoiled opening up the package Meghan had packed for me!  It was just so pretty and carefully crafted.  I'm always so happy when someone takes the time to make the presentation of a gift special.  I almost didn't want to open it.  Almost.  And Fanny (below) was obviously jealous.

Here is an excerpt from the poem that Meghan enclosed for me, titled "The Gift":

A poor orphan girl named Maria

Was walking to market one day

She stopped for to rest by the roadside

Where a bird with a broken wing lay

A few moments passed till she saw it

For its feathers were covered with sand

But soon clean and wrapped in was traveling

In the warmth of Maria's small hand.

She happily gave her last peso

On a cage made of rushes and twine

She fed it loose corn from the market

And watched it grow stronger with time...

Maria brought the bird as an offering to the altar on Christmas Eve, embarrassed by her modest gift.  When she opened the door of the cage, however, the bird soared to the rafters of the church on his healed wing...

Now Maria felt blessed just to listen

To that cascade of notes sweet and long

As her offering was lifted to heaven

By the very first nightingale's song.

Thank you so much, Meghan!  I adore my ornament and was truly touched by the care and effort that you put into sending me such a lovely package and equally-lovely gift enclosure!  It was a sincere pleasure to swap with you and get to know you -- many thanks to Dawn for partnering us together and for organizing the entire ornament swap!

I consider this an excellent beginning to a happy holiday season.