Birthday presents (Or: A year wiser?)

Last week I celebrated another birthday. Here’s a look at some (but unfortunately not all) of the highlights…

First, a bouquet of paper flowers made by my father-in-law and his wife. Still wrapped:

Unwrapped:

A close up of the butterfly. Do you see what the roses are made of? Wrapped chocolate and the best paper you could make flowers out of — 5 euro notes!

And the creativity most definitely does not stop there. Here’s the card that they made for me:

And unboxed. Again: handmade!

Marco received a similar card last year.

I also received a Sherlock Blue-ray and Boston history book from Roger…

and a puzzle mat and 1,000 puzzle from my mother-in-law:

And finally, here is a very small look at how my work space was unexpectedly decorated when I came in. It was quite colorful – with ribbons and a Happy birthday banner, a balloon, and etc… But this is proof that Marco is rubbing off on me so much that even my coworkers know it!