She LOVED the mittens!

As an explanation, I should say I'm a bit of an anomaly as a knitter. other than my husband, son, FIL and MIL, my entire family (and it numbers into the 20's, with assorted in-laws, nieces, nephews, etc). do not want me to knit for them. I have been directly told not to. No hats, mitts, nothing. The sisters in law have never been given the choice - when we exchanged gifts, they got knitted stuff, like it or not.
The nieces and nephews - well, I've been cognizant of their wishes to an extent. It's mostly from my husband's family that I get the "please don't knit" attitude.
But my brother's kids? They are learning the way of the hand knit. The mittens I made for my niece? Team Canada, and Brown University? So well received. the elegant and somewhat grown up 17 year old LAUNCHED herself at me to thank me. I tell ya, that made my Christmas. the rest of the day could be crap (and some of it was), but I DIDN'T CARE. i made them for her, she loved them. that's all that mattered. her mom, my SIL even asked if I could make her some Brown mitts for when she drove Sarah down to school. (She asked for the easy ones, so I said yes.)
Sarah (no last name - she;s not my child, it's not my place to publish, I'm even weird about using her first name...) is in Stockholm now, the team getting ready for their first game on January 1st. I''ll be following online (no TV coverage for the ladies, it seems...) and my brother is combining a business trip to Europe with the tournament.
I told her I understood about uniforms and such, and whether or not she could wear them, and her comment was that she didn't care. She was wearing them proudly. For family and Canada.
I teared up a bit a that, and if you know me, cynical me, that says a lot. I love this kid, and she can have anything knitted, anytime, anywhere. And now her brothers are putting out feelers for knits. Bring it on!