Christmas Presents for My Mother-in-Law

I have an awesome mother-in-law.

I realize not many people can say that--want to say that--but in my case it is very true.  My mother-in-law rocks.  I knew her before I even knew her son.

And so, I am going to tell you the story of how I met her--and my future husband--intermingled with pictures of the presents I made her for Christmas.  Because, why not? Pretty pictures to go along with a happy story--and all for a very special lady.  :)

Presents preview!
A ruffle scarf in shades of red and orange, two necklaces, and
a pair of earrings.  My mother-in-law looks fantastic in autumn hues.

Sappy Background Story:

To start off with, my mother and my mother-in-law were best friends in grade school.  They even continued to be friends when my mother moved to a different state.

Necklaces and earrings.
The necklaces can be worn together or separately, and the earrings
match both.

Years passed.

Enter me.

Close-up of the necklaces--beautiful burgundy glass cathedral beads,
mixed with elegant brass filigree.

Over the years, I had heard stories about my mother's friend from Ohio.  All I knew, really, was that she was as a writer.  And a good one, at that--I found a portfolio of her stories sitting on my mother's shelf, and I eagerly read them all. 

Earrings!  Because earrings are fun.

How amazing--not only were these good stories, they were good stories written by someone my mother knew.

Authors were people, too!

I know it sounds rather silly, but it was quite a leap for my developing brain to make.  

So, in middle school, when I was a precocious writer-in-training, I decided to start sending letters to my mother's Ohio writing-friend.  Imagine my delight and surprise when said friend not only tolerated my letters, but encouraged them.

We became penpals.  

My mother-in-law is a writer...  So, I named her scarf.  After all, precious
things are often named in fantasy stories.
The name is "alemeth", which means "autumn" in one of the many
languages I've created.

Then, a little while later, her children started to write to me--including her second son.  He started his letter with, I kid you not, "my mother is making me write this letter."  I became penpals with him...  

And, well, the rest is history.

...And I still have that letter, even though it's over 15 years old by now.

Once again, here is everything--in all of its glory.

So, yeah, my mother-in-law is awesome.  Not only is she a fantastic writer, not only is she the mother of the man I love...  She is also a really, really good friend.

I am privileged to know her.

And she also loves tea, so I made her one last necklace, a surprise after she opened the previous set:
 

A pretty little brass teacup...

...on a pretty little brass chain.

 And so, those are the presents that I made for my mother-in-law this past Christmas--just a small representation of how much she means to me.

Thank you so much for reading my happy reminiscing...  I hope you enjoyed!