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Grandma’s Crafty-Christmas Giving | Homemade Gifts

January 11, 2010 By Laura 5 Comments

I already shared the beautiful Advent Calendar Michael’s mother gave us for Christmas, and mentioned in that thread there were a couple of other homemade gifts she sent us as well.

One is this apron she made for {A}. When {A} talked to Grandma on the phone on Christmas Day, {A} said, that Grandma said, that she was inspired by our gifts to them last year, including their aprons. She rather enjoyed making gifts too! We rather enjoyed receiving them, and they mean a lot to us.

She took an already made apron, and ‘made it her own’. (And then gave it away. lol). She added the cute wavy trim, a 2-section pocket on the front with the ADORABLE cupcake pattern, and her and Grandpa’s hand-prints!

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I really love the pocket…..because I LOVE cupcakes. Everything about them – not just eating them.

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Besides loving the whole apron, that was made just for her with love, Grandpa’s hand-print means the most to her. Reason being, ever since she was a little-bitty thing, she has been fascinated by the size of her Grandfather’s hands. Even still. And her own hands are not that small anymore, nor are her feet!! But she gets a giggle, to see that hand-print on her apron, every time. Of course, she loves Grandma’s too.
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The boys got some customized t-shirts, that they are CrAzY about. It looks like Grandma picked up some cool stencils, and got to painting with fabric paint! Can I tell you how many days in a row the boys would wear their t-shirts? I’ll let them go 2, before I want them to throw the shirts down to the laundry. MUST we wait until they get something on them, or worse yet, SMELL, before we call them dirty?

{O} got an adorable stenciled shirt too, that is a long-sleeve shirt with a collar. I can’t locate a photo of it right now, but I’ll be on the look-out for it, or catch her in it, and take a photo.

Knowing the time, effort, thought and love that is put into homemade gifts, we appreciate them from others more than ever. They truly are some of the most meaningful kind of gifts. For Christmas, or for any reason at all.

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PaRtY aNiMaLs!!! | Our Family’s New Year’s Eve Celebration 2010

January 3, 2010 By Laura 10 Comments

New Year’s Eve was a GOOD TIME at our house!!

We were ready to rock in 2010!!

We went to 4:00 Mass to start, because the next day was a Holy Day of Obligation for us. It was a really great Mass, with a great homily, so that was a great start to our whole night.

When we got home, we started cooking and prepping our party food for the night!

The menu included buffalo chicken, pineapple wrapped in bacon, stuffed mushrooms, and simple deviled eggs, to start.

Bacon Wrapped Pineapple Bites – recipe HERE

Later on we had more snack kind of stuff, and some party punch with sherbet ice cream in it.

The kids were very excited, because we told {J, O &S} they could stay up until midnight, if they could make it!

{JM} was the first to start getting crazy! No surprise there!

And it doesn’t take much, to get Daddy going!!

We had the TV on of course, and were thrilled that Daughtry played a set in Time Square!! I love them.

While they got bored of watching the people in the streets of Time Square , and were waiting for the ball to drop, {JOS} found a new use for their party hats, and the battle was on!!….

This is about as wild as I’ve ever let them get in the house! lol

It really was hilarious to watch them!! We were all hysterical!

{S} was the first one, really fighting the sleepies. We noticed him suddenly sitting there quietly, and his big sister asked, “What’s a matter {S}? Are you tired??” And he quietly said “Yes.” What a strange sight, for all of us. This boy wakes UP the ‘party animal’, every day! But…..it was LATE by now.

And soon enough…..the ball was dropping…..the countdown began….and then…..MIDNIGHT!!

And a LOT of NOISE!!! JOYFUL NOISE!!! (of course).

{A} was saying how hard the horns were to blow.

I knew she wasn’t kidding when I saw how her photo turned out!

LOL!!! GOOD GOLLY!!

Just kidding. I played with that one a little bit!

This is the real photo…..

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Then it was time for Happy New Year Kisses!! This is {J, O & S}’s ‘triplet kiss’ they have done since they were very little! {O} puts her finger to her lips, as central point, and all 3 of them kiss it. I always loved that. <sniff>

Then there was kisses for big sister!!

Michael and I are off to the side there. Sorry….that one’s private. ; )

Hope you all had a great New Year’s Eve!!

WHAT DID YOU ALL DO ON NEW YEAR’S EVE?

WE’D LOVE FOR YOU TO TELL US ABOUT IT!

Did you have a quiet one? Go out and party? Stay in and order Chinese Food? Crash at 10:00??

HaPpY NeW YeAr EvErYoNe!!!

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Christmas Gift Jars and Baked Good Ideas

January 1, 2010 By Laura 4 Comments

For those who have been visiting our blog long enough, you’d probably know that we usually get very crafty for Christmas gifts for loved ones. But unfortunately, some years we were low on both time and money, to really craft as much as we would like to for gifts. Still, we prefer to show our love to our loved ones at Christmas, with more homemade sort of gifts, if we can. So we had the idea this year of sending some Christmas gift jars and baked goods. It would be simple, inexpensive, yet appreciated we were sure. Who doesn’t love food…right?

You should know, this post is not sharing the actual recipes we used. We are just sharing with you the idea of gift jars, and some presentation ideas, as inspiration, for your own gift giving. Gift jar recipes are very easy to find though! You can just do a web search, or….check Pinterest for a wealth of jar recipe ideas! Here though, we just want to show you what we came up with.

So some jars we made up with most of the ingredients to make Oatmeal Raisin Cookies.
All they needed to add was the butter, egg and vanilla!

Most of our gift recipients got a jar just like this, with the measured dry ingredients and directions. But we knew my 2 bachelor brothers, and my Dad, were not going to be baking anything. lol. So…..we baked theirs for them, and filled up the jar with the cookies. Cookies in a jar! So there is another idea for you!

We also gave some people the dry ingredients for this Curried Lentil Soup. What a big project THIS turned out to be. Because the recipe calls for red and yellow lentils. After visiting 6 stores all over town, over the course of a week, we settled for red and green. Maybe you know better where to get them? If not, don’t toss the idea all together, if you like the idea of soups. Again, search for recipes, and you’ll find more than you can shake a . . . . . . a . . . . . . spoon at. 🙂

Initially, we could only find tan, and made some soup ourselves to test the recipe. Not being lentil experts, we thought only the color was different. But ummm….not so much. We HOPE the red & green works out alright for everyone.

We also made loaves of fresh homemade bread (not pictured) , and included those in most packages.

And homemade donuts! : D

We got calls and messages from everyone, and they all seemed to really enjoy our tasty gifts! We think they probably ‘tasted the love‘. But one did tell us the bread and donuts were kind of hardish, or heavy, when they arrived. Now….the bread crust is. You can knock on the loaf, but it’s soft on the inside. It makes excellent toast, it’s great for sandwiches, and it goes well with soup, too!

But the donuts, being fried, we really weren’t sure HOW they would fair in shipping. So I guess they arrived….a little dense. Now, we take these things very seriously. So, we asked ourselves what we may have learned from that outcome, and this is what we came up with:

Don’t share our donuts anymore!!
No, seriously, we’ll be working on our recipe, to make them a little lighter. 😀 For the rare occasion we make them again, because they aren’t the healthiest regular food to eat. But they are a real treat, and that’s in part what make the holidays so special.

Some pretty ribbon on your jars, with an attached tag that shares the recipe or directions, is a very warm and thoughtful gift, for anyone who eats!
Your tag can be hand-written as well. It actually makes it all the more handmade-appeal.

We hope these ideas make your Christmas gift-giving season fun, delicious, and budget-friendly.

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A Christmas Heirloom in the Making | Hand-Sewn Advent Calendar

December 30, 2009 By Laura 3 Comments

My mother-in-law/Michael’s mother/(the kid’s grandmother, if you are not catching on to who I am referring to yet..lol), seemingly got quite crafty this year, and we surely benefited from her doing so, in the way of wonderful gifts this Christmas!

A package full of goods arrived from Florida in early December, but there was one that we were instructed to open right away. So we did, and I literally gasped, and naturally, because I am becoming more of a sap with each passing day in my older years here, teared up. I guess I kept saying, “Oh my gosh….I LOVE that!”….because Michael said, “We KNOW Honey. We HEARD you. You LOVE it!” lol. He loves it too. We immediately started discussing where we could hang it.

It’s an Advent Calendar she sewed and quilted herself.

I love the art of the scene, there at the manger in Bethlehem, that starry, blessed night.

I love the royal colors!

Every numbered day is a little pocket too, to be able to put little notes or treats in for the kids, I would imagine. And they need to search for the day on the calendar.

{O}, who didn’t yet understand the purpose of the numbers being mixed up, said “Grandma did a really nice job making this, but I just can’t believe she doesn’t know her numbers yet!” lol.

I love the little details.

Do you see the light coming down from the star on the right there? It’s twinkle dust that she applied.

This angel has a flower-sequin in her hair.

We decided to put it right next to the front door, where every one who comes and goes, can enjoy it as much as we do through-out this Christmas season.

Honestly, this is a gift to our family, that I will truly treasure, every year for the rest of my life. I’m sure we all will! It’s one of those truly meaningful things I’ll be anxious to find first, and dig out of the boxes of Christmas ‘stuff’, every year when we bring out the decorations. In time, it’ll become a family heirloom. Everyone knows what our faith means to us, and how much we soley focus on the true meaning of Christmas. So that in itself makes it a wonderful gift for us. But what makes it a TREASURE, is that it was made with love, by someone we love, for us. It matters none to us, if she made more, or who else got one too. This one is ours, and it came from a loved one 2 generations back (to our kids.) I know I’ve talked much about how much I love ‘family pieces’ in our home, so I guess I’ve made my point well enough now.

Suffice it to say, it will bring us joy, every family Christmas to come, that we ever blessed to embrace and celebrate.

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Celebrations, Snowstorms and Surprises!

December 23, 2009 By Laura 4 Comments

Michael’s birthday was the 19th. I like to think there is only about 3.5 months out of the year that I am older than him, but once his birthday rolls around, we’re the ‘same number’, and so it’s all the same. ; )

He chose to spend a good part of his birthday cutting wood. Yes, he really loves cutting wood that much. He got an ax for his birthday, a little early.

I made him his favorite dinner for his birthday too: BREAKFAST. : )

{A} made him this cake. She said red, white and blue is his favorite colors. I’m not sure I knew that.

But he is an All American Boy. ; )

I got him this card…and we laughed hysterically, for 10 minutes, with mouthfuls of chocolate cake.

Showing you the inside would not be as funny as opening it yourself, so to save ourselves from looking foolish, I won’t show you the pic of the inside. It’s a talking card, so you’d really have to hear it, to truly laugh with us. But I do plan on expanding somewhat on this topic very soon. So stay tuned if you love to laugh. ; )

That night….

…around 10 p.m. eastern time…

…our very first flurries of this cold season began….

….and it went all night….

….so we woke up to this….

A photographer friend of mine guilted me into going outside to take photos.

So I did, and as cold and sufferable as it was….

she was very happy to see photos.

But karma is a funny thing, because she’s about to get her first snowstorm.

And now, she owes me.

But she’s excited to go out and take photos.

She saw this photo, and said she ‘always gets sad for the trees’, but that it is pretty.

Do trees get sad?

I loved the bird photos I got the most.

Several Tufted Titmice were very busy going back and forth, gathering seed.

I loved this shot.
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And this one. : )

The kids have been sledding every day. For the small property we have, they created quite the lengthy sled trail! It comes down from the upper yard, down and across the lower yard, and where we removed a section of fence for them, down another hill (over my bushes) into the driveway.

I know….I should have gone out and taken photos of the kids sledding too. But I am still recovering from the first trip out there. ; )

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In closing, I have to share with you all a very touching Christmas surprise we received in the mail yesterday.

It was a cushioney package, from Canada!

Something about getting a package from someone out of the country, makes you feel even a tad extra-special. ; )

We recognized the name of the sender.

It was Samantha, from Little Steps to Heaven, and her family.

Inside the package, was a photo Christmas card, of her beautiful family (with another on the way!), and a sweet note.

And these…..

Be still my heart. Hand-knitted Christmas tree ornaments! One for each of us. It’s our whole family! <sniff, sniff>.

They are Canadian ‘touques’, hand-knitted by Samantha herself. Touques is defined as a kind of warm winter cap, usually made from a knit bag with closed tapered ends, by pushing one end within the other, thus making a conical cap of double thickness.

But you could probably tell that, just by looking at them. Aren’t they ADORABLE?!!

You know, one of the greatest things that have come of this blog, is the friends we have made. So many beautiful-hearted people, like Samantha and her family. People you can count on for prayers when you need them, or count on inspiring you, witnessing them as they strive to live their faith, as we do. People that touch our hearts with their e-mails, comments, posts on their own blogs, and sometimes, surprises like this.

We are blessed, with all of YOU!

To Samantha and your family….we thank you SO much. Your thoughtfulness means so very much to us, and we know these ornaments will not only be treasured for all of the years to come, but touch make us smile every year as we unpack them, and think of you. They are symbols of warmth, not only of heads, but of hearts.

XOXO

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