(Sorry, long post - but these guys are just really amazing! It would be so cool if they could talk!)

I returned from a short trip to Amsterdam with a box full of mail - mostly fliers, but also some general letters and this bulky envelope! The customs description was interesting - "Gift Sculptures". At this point I did not know for which exchange the package was associated (this is my first parcel of the three I signed up for ...)

So, time for the reveal... ...Two business cards were enclosed from a business called "The Silver Branch", with a fantasy artist's name printed on it. ...Three parcels were lovingly wrapped in paper surrounded by bubble wrap

At this point, all three exchanges are still possibilities. I mean, someone could have sent three sculpted keychains or three items I would need for the Apocalypse. And of course, they could be gnomes.

(Of course you know they are gnomes, otherwise I would not be posting this discourse on the "Gnome" category - but go with me here. Imagine what you would have thought if you were in my place - all were possibilities ...)

So, I unwrap the first - it's a manly man gnome holding a cookbook and wooden spoon, and he has this really groovy curly-tipped hat. Obviously, this gnome represents me - I love to cook, and I do love an odd hat every now and then.

On to the second: Oh. My. STARS!!!, as my friend Viv would say ALL THE TIME at MSNZ in her nasally twang (you know, one time she performed as Baby Spice in a Spice Girls entry for a talent competition - her team won. She looked DEAD ON Baby Spice!)

Anyway, I digress ... Oh. My. STARS!!! This second one is even cuter than the first! He has totally butch features, a big beard and a smile, a very well-thought-out hat - of course, this is obviously my husband.

Finally, package number three ... Now I get teary eyed, for it is a sweet little dog wearing a huge smile and a wagging tail (clearly begging for a treat, in my experience.) Clearly this represents my sweet, sweet Sita, who died just this past February!. She was the sweetest, most gentle lady dog that you would ever meet. I miss her terribly and think of her every day.

But no tears, no tears! You put these guys together and they make an absolutely adorable tableau, they really do! I just can't figure out where to put them - I want to display them proudly, and I am a firm believer that gnomes belong outside until they are quite old and weary, but I fear that they may "wander off" and disappear to someone else's garden. And you know what, if they disappear they disappear - I mean this as no disrespect to my Santa, not at all! Rather, I think that part of the fun of having gnomes is knowing that they could mysteriously travel. I don't know though ... I'd hate to lose them. Maybe they can live in my water pond just in front of my dining room and bedroom / outdoor patio area. At least this way I can keep a much better eye on them (I'm not saying that anything has ever disappeared here - quite the contrary, actually; I have two gnomes living on a stump surveying and guarding their strawberry patch, which is near a very public area. They have lived outside for months and are thriving (Danes are very honest people.)

I have no idea who my Santa is on this exchange, but I really love the gift, I really do - and the dog was just such a nice touch (I had not mentioned it to her in my response to an email she sent me, so she must have found something I had written ...)

If you were here I would give you a giant hug and offer you a beautiful pot roast dinner (or something similarly as delicious ...)

I've got to finish this - I am starving!