A couple of nice presents

My department at work is a small one and very friendly. We have birthday celebrations and pot luck meals, and give each other little presents or cards for Christmas as well as having a gift exchange. I wanted to show you a couple of things I got this year.

One of my coworkers is a painter, and she made everyone a small painting on a magnet to hang on the cube walls. Some were flowers and so on, but for mine, since she knows how much I like sea shells:


Isn't that pretty? I think she did a good job, and it's a very thoughtful gift.

In the gift exchange, we draw names and, in a new twist this year, put a clue as to the identity of the giver on the package in place of a name. You had to guess who the giver was, and get it right, before you could open your present. If you got it wrong, the next person in the circle was up, and you waited until it came around to you again.

So mine said to so-and-so, and then, "Some of my first words were in Portuguese."* It took my recipient two guesses to get me, and it took me I think three before I guessed the clue on mine.

*We were living in Brazil at the time, and I picked it up from the maids. No, I don't remember it now, and no, we never had maids again. All the exciting stuff happened before I remember.

And here's what she gave me:


You kind of have to see it in person to fully appreciate it, but what she did was transform a photo I took of the babies into this print that looks more like a silk screen, and framed it. It's so neat!

She was sneaky, too, in asking me to send her the photo so she could send it to her sister. Very clever; I didn't suspect a thing.

Do you get anything fun at work this year?