Three Gifts (not Wise Men)

So there are three gifts so far of which I am very proud.

The first is cookies. My mother used to bake about 20 different kinds of cookies, dozens and dozens, starting just after Thanksgiving and freezing. I have taken a new spin on this — I make 1-3 kinds, and then participate in cookie exchanges so that I have a big variety. This year we had our usual wonderful exchange hosted by our friends Erica and Joe, and then I hosted one for the "First Grade Mafia" which was far more casual and still a ton of fun.

Coming home from the first exchange, we stopped a a great little vintage store I had wanted to go to for a long time called Omforme. While Beatrix tried on amazing vintage hats, I checked out their collection of framed matchbooks, and thus inspired went home to dig through my big jar and see what I had.

Most of them I got from my dad and were from his travels as a book salesman — and you would not believe how many of them were hotel matchbooks, which just seems strange now! But there was one amazing one from the dearly departed New French Cafe.

My friend and colleague Andrew is the Executive Director of IFP Minnesota, and his overarching goal is to give our amazing new space the vibe that the New French did, a place where people gather to create and recreate. So I framed the matchbook for him as an indication that I believe in what he's doing and think it will work.


Finally, tonight my friend Nicole flew in from Detroit (where she is currently filing her show Rehab Addict) so she could host her annual holiday party. I knew she would not have a lot of time to put Christmas together, and I wanted to give her something that reflected her love of saving past treasures that others overlook. So I whipped up a little tree decoration from a falling apart book someone had left in our Little Free Library:


Three very quick things, but to me, all indicative of the spirit of the season.

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