Sweets

My little brother and my sister-in-law in San Francisco (despite the locale, they are both Brits) are grand gift givers. I have had some great stuff from them over the years for Xmas, birthdays, and other occasions - and now of course, my two nieces and nephew are very much part of the process too. One particular theme that has developed in recent years has been things with pictures of their three kids on, and no, I'm not talking t-shirts! I've had full personalised 12 month calendars, each month with a different photo, and this year I got a coffee cup adorned with their portraits for Christmas. My ole Mum, meanwhile, is a keen patience player, and so received a pack of playing cards printed with pictures of her San Franciscan family on the back - swimming in a cave!
But perhaps the greatest present I have ever received from me bro's family - as a(an entirely unnecessary) thank you for letting them stay in my flat during a visit to the UK two summers ago - was a bag of multi-coloured M&M sweets, each bearing a remarkably lifelike little portrait of the three bairns. Here we see them, arranged in age order left to right....I couldn't bring myself to eat a single one of them though: they are still sitting in the corner of a kitchen cupboard!