Giving from the heart...

Giving a gift is a special thing.  Receiving an unexpected gift in the mail?  Well that can sometimes be the best gift of all!

I was surprised and touched to receive a package in the mail last week.  It came on the "perfect" kind of day.  The kind of day where you're just a bit down over life's little things and come home to a mailbox filled with something extra special.

As you can see, the Elves over at Elizabeth & Co had sent me a little package... a package tied up with a tag and fabulous bakery twine.

And even though that twine is a string, there were certainly no strings attached to this little package.  Just the thoughtfulness and kindness of a fellow blogger and her companions.

I squealed a bit when I realized what the package held...

Five fabulous, vintage Santa paper plates!

The very plates I'd spied on the post about Elizabeth & Co's latest sale... a sale that I'd love to some day attend but it is a bit of a trip for this West Coast girl!

I've already found just the spot for my plates... tucked up with my vintage Santa pitcher and tiny mugs (please ignore the "oh so strategically placed among the Christmas decor" box of dog medicine for our lab that broke her leg).

It makes me happy every single time I see it... in a spot that I see everyday when I come in my back door!  Isn't he a jolly fellow?

And speaking of gifts and packages... another recent parcel was this wonderful sign that I won in an "oh so generous" giveaway from here.  I was a lucky girl to win and found a perfect spot for this sign...

I like how the sign is "spotlighted" behind the glass of my original front door of Red Gate Farm.

I've been a very lucky person to meet such wonderful folks through blogging... both in person and through their blogs.  In fact, another gift I forgot to mention in the flurry of wedding preparations last summer is one of my "oldest" blogging friends... in fact I credit Andrea with getting this little blog off the ground and was my very first follower (that wasn't family, that is)!  I had bemoaned that I was having a difficult time locating a Scrabble "V" tile for the wedding.  She mentioned that she had one and popped it in the mail to me... all the way from the outskirts of Toronto, Ontario!  And since my daughter and her husband spent a year living in Toronto, well this connection was even sweeter...

And I'm thrilled that the wedding photographer used the tiles just as I planned....

And like my little Santa plates, this picture makes me smile every time I see it.

Counting my blessings... and the days to Christmas,