i'll have a purple christmas

do you play sercet santa? i do. ferociously, and with much yelling and stomping of feet. 

i head up the secret santa at work, and this was our last one--we all say goodbye to each other come january 9. rather than curl up and hoard our collective pennies, this was the brightest holiday ever.

peeps hid flowers. wrote poems. left gifts hiding everywhere. every 5 minutes, screams of thanks could be heard echoing up and down the stairwells from happy recipients.

and i had the BEST SECRET SANTA IN THE WORLD. i am serious. this is the one, the ONE person you want to get that you're sure you will never be lucky enough to get. my head about popped off when my santa revealed herself. i am a brat at christmas, it can't be helped, and boy did she have me pegged. i had something beautiful to open every day (one gift being a bag full of goodies from MJ trimmings, thankyouverymuch). i was just floored. shouted about it every night after work to ruggy. i think he may have lost some hearing over it.

and continuing my lucky streak, i chose someone who specifically requested a handmade gift for christmas! i mean, COME ON!!! i rushed out and spent my limit on goodies to shower her with all week long, then went to searching my stash for the perfect purple fabric (lucky me again, her favorite color). 

then the dreaded sewing stall hit. i had nada. robe? maxi dress? lounge pants? FEH. enter burdastyle & modcloth's handmade contest (seriously, i'm a groupie), and bang! inspiration struck! 

modcloth's ever awesome dresses got my brain churning: time for scrunch and who wants to be a frillionaire. i wanted to play up the texture of these dresses with an equally frilly accessory. one can never have too many frills.

she opened it yesterday at our holiday potluck and loved it.  and i will never forget the joyous cacophony that erupted as everyone tore into their prizes together, hugging and laughing and yelling and full of amazing home cooked pernil and banana pudding and most of all, love.

one of my best friends is getting this lavender one on christmas day. and don't forget, you can win your own lacey oonaballoona accessory here!