Sent to me by someone amazingly creatively thoughtful

Words, words, words.....my WHOYCE box was full of them. My gift-giver is a woman of amazing talent (and mystery....I still need to figure out who she is).

Curious Girl was just beside herself with glee when it was finally time to open the box. There were stickers on the outside. Two stickers. This was clearly a good sign for things to come. I opened the box, while CG snapped photos (she took 9 photos of me opening the box, a thrilling series which will, unaccountably, not end up on flickr). Finally, the top opened....to revealsome tissue paper! and some brown packing paper! which were cat toys! So we were off to a good start: the box and packing materials were fun. "Can I have some? Will you share?" CG kept asking. "It's all Mama's," Politica kept saying. "Nothing is yours until she says it is, and this box is for Mama." "

Well, not quite. The first thing that came out of the box was this:


"It's for me!" Curious Girl squealed. Really, no one is as excited about presents as a four-and-a-half year old. Greedy and grasping as she can sound, she is nonetheless utterly delightful, embodying pure joy where gifts are concerned. "Will you read it to me?" Then she spied the lollipops: maple. Yum. (There were three--one for each of us, I ruled. She ate hers quickly and said, "It has a good flavor, but I can't say what.")

The box wasn't all that big, but it was like one of those small cars filled with clowns at the circus (but more dignified): there were layers and layers and layers of things. Like this wonderful bag:

Which is made from the marriage ads in an Indian newspaper. I love Indian English: some common usages sound so formal to an American ear, things like "Alliance invited..." oror "suitable match." One ad reminded me of jo(e)'s pseduonyms: "well established sophisticated family....seeks beautiful smart educated girl." And the adjectives! wheatish, homely, convented, homely. I love this bag. Not only will it provide endless amusement on rainy days (there are tons of unfamiliar acronyms (MCA (ORC) 2.50 LPA req.?), it will be a wonderful teaching aid for my unit on World English. And I spent some time today imagining what became of the people behind these ads. Did the 6' handsome doctor ever find his 5'4"+ desired bride?

I had to put such speculation aside, though, as there were more things in the box, most individually wrapped in tissue of some sort. An edition of Franny and Zooey, with two beautiful bookmarks. Two little pads of recycled paper, one with a cover made from paint chip sample (why didn't we do that with any of the zillion samples we had home from the hardware store?); the notepads are inspired by Dadaist scissor poetry. How fun! A little blank book, for journalling. A box of cookies with amazingly friendly Asian characters. A little green tea, a little organic soap. Three fabulous mini notebooks for the new department chair: one says yesyesyesyesyes on the cover, one says maybemaybemaybe and one says nononononononononono. Sheet music: "You're a Sweet Little Headache" and Porgy and Bess. ("Headache" is my new parenting theme song: it perfectly captures the mood swings of a four year old!). Heritage hollyhock seeds. A chocolate bar. And lovely paper and envelopes: perfect for the scrapbooking self I aspire to be and for the writing self I actually am: I can use the paper to send letters, or I could use some in an album.

And as if that wasn't enough, a wrapped photo, titled "Marriage is love," with two women in wedding dresses walking off together. It's a gorgeous image.

Oh, and I've forgotten to mention the white shirt for Curious Girl, with ironed-on transfers on front, back, and each sleeve. "A new shirt!" She had to change immediately.

Here's what it looks like, all together:

All this from a Mystery Canadian blogger...I have a few guesses but I need to go check the archives to see if I'm right.

I am just so thrilled with this box: some things for Curious Girl, writing things for me, a little soap, tea, and chocolate to enjoy...and the beautiful songs, words, and images. This box will be making us very happy here for a long time to come.