Homemade Gift Exchange

My siblings and I draw names for a Christmas gift exchange around Thanksgiving time each year.  It's always a hyped up process that involves writing down everyone's name on precisely the same size piece of paper and then asking my dad (a neutral party) to first draw the order of names, and then to re-draw again to see who drew who's name. 

In the past there had been only three basic rules:
1.  Spouses can't draw spouses names
2.  Twin can't draw other twin name
3.  $50 spending budget

This year one of my younger brothers piped up and said something along the lines of "Are we doing handmade gifts this year?"

We laughed at first.  Then the idea grew.  My mom described a homemade gift exchange that she once did with her siblings and how it was fun and how my uncle still has the gift she made him many years ago. 

We decided to give this handmade thing a try.  The 2012 Christmas exchange rules were:
1.  Spouses can't draw spouses names
2.  Twin can't draw other twin name
3.  $50 spending budget
4.  Handmade gift 

Hubs and I had fun with this one.  We both put together the same homemade gift - with different customization for each of our name draws.

We bottled some of our homemade raspberry wine and made homemade labels. 

Although simple in theory, it was a little time consuming.  We had to purchase small bottles of wine, consume the small bottles of wine, sanitize the bottles, peel the labels off the bottles, fill the bottles with the homemade wine, cork the bottles, cap the bottles, and shrinkwrap the top of the bottles before we could put our labels on.  It was totally worth the work.  We were so happy with the way the came out.  We could hardly wait for them to be opened.

I drew my older brother for the gift exchange.  He has a dog named Freddy that was the muse for my labels.

Hubs drew my older sister for the gift exchange.  His two labels were inspired by a "How to Draw Cute Animals" book.  

For some reason we don't have a picture of his other label on its own. Oh well.

Christmas 2012

I broke a promise to the blog world - to post a pic of my tree before it was actually Christmas.  Please forgive - and enjoy the photos below. 

 Our tree was red, white, and gold themed this year.  I love the candy cane look to it!

My mom crafted our stockings.  We hung them on our entertainment center since we don't currently have a fireplace or mantle to decorate.  Hubs stocking is John Deere colors and a tad larger than mine.  Notice how it is so heavily filled that it is practically walking away in this picture.  Lucky Hubs!

I decorated the entryway table with a basic berry vine and small white light set. 

Our decorations are still up and we are enjoying the relaxed pace around here.  We had a great time celebrating the season with both our families and we are so grateful for all that we have.

Random Thursday

1.  We finished wrapping presents tonight...finally.

2.  I promise I will post a picture of my Christmas tree before Christmas is actually here.

3.  Hubs and I have been working on our homemade gifts for family members on my side of the family.  Pics and post to come after Christmas.

4.  The weather forecast is calling for some pretty strong winds tomorrow - I hope we don't lose power!

5.  Chocolate covered coffee beans are pretty delish...just sayin'!

Cake Pop Till Ya Drop

Holiday baking season is here at last!

We have been meaning to try cake pops for some time.  Hubs picked up a cake pop kit while out running errands a few weeks ago and we got busy baking last weekend.

The kit was very easy.  It could be easily replicated without a kit - and we totally will be trying it again without a kit!

I'll break it down for you into 10 steps:

1.  Bake a cake (We will use a boxed cake mix next time to make more cake)
2.  Let the cake cool, then crumble the cake into a mixing bowl
3.  Make frosting (We will be buying a can of frosting for ease of use next time)
4.  Mix cake crumble and frosting to a roll-able consistency
5.  Roll cake balls
6.  Place cake balls in freezer for 20-30 minutes
7.  Heat dipping chocolate (We will get better dipping chocolate next time...the kit didn't provide enough to dip very well)
8.  Stick cake balls on candy sticks, and cover in dipping chocolate

9.  Let dipping chocolate on cake pops cool and dry

10. Decorate your cake pops! (The most fun part - for sure!)

Happy Cake Poppin!

Random Thursday

1.  My baby sister turns 21 tomorrow.  Which means she'll be partying tonight.  Just. So. Crazy.

2.  If you were to look in our guest bedroom you might believe we are hoarders.  We really just have no storage space.  No storage space = wall of stacked boxes threatening to topple over at any minute.  That room scares me.

3.  Last night Hubs and I wrote a parody of "Twas the Night Before Christmas."  It's titled "'Twas 10 Nights Before Christmas" and we used it as a dinner invitation for some friends.  I'm pretty proud of the end result.  Here's a sneak peak of our poem:

"'Twas 10 nights before Christmas, when all through the apt.
Both (my name) and (Hubs name) were cooking, minus a cat.
Their stockings were hung by the TV with care, 
In hopes that dinner guests soon would be there."

4.  Yesterday I volunteered with the Salvation Army to sort toy donations and to "shop" through the donated toys for children in need. This is the second year I have volunteered for this activity with the Salvation Army and for the second time I am completely amazed at the toys that people and organizations donate.  It's so great!  One item on a child's list was a "remote control helicopter."  When I read that item, I thought I would never find something even close to it.  I shopped around for a few other items on the list and then...there it was...a brand new remote control toy helicopter.  Perfect!

5.  Have you ever purchased a large tub of cheese balls?  Hubs requested that I purchase one the other day so that he could use the tub container for a project at work.  I love me some cheesy poofs but we officially have a disgusting amount of them at this time.

Christmas Card 2012

This year is the first year I have ever officially sent Christmas Cards. 

I was attracted to cards with the text "Merry and Bright" because I knew I wanted to showcase a wedding sparkler send-off picture.

I purchased my Christmas cards from Snapfish.  I love the quality of Snapfish prints.

Since Snapfish sells cards in batches of 20, and cards get expensive after awhile, I only ordered 20.  Hubs and I only had enough cards to send to our immediate families (we've got big families ya'll!).

If you are a close friend please do not be offended!  I will purchase more than 20 cards next year so I can include you in the distribution list.

May your days be merry and bright this holiday season!

Random Thursday

1.  Tonight we are going to see Elf on the big screen at a local theater.  Admission to the throw-back film is a toy to donate to children in need.  We picked up two small sets of legos to donate.  I'm pretty excited about our lego set donations and I'm equally excited to watch a classic Christmas movie! 

2.  I took hubs on a surprise date to a local college basketball game this week.  It was a great game - tied up until the last minute when things got crazy.  We think we may try a local college hockey game soon too.

3.  This week I skipped zumba and went swimming with Hubs.  He tried to teach me how to tread water the correct way.  At one point I thought I had it.  I can't seem to do it for very long - probably not even one minute.  I should try timing myself.  Improving my swimming is on my 30/30 list - I will figure it out eventually!

4.  I have been spending 1 hour each week for the last 3 weeks knitting a scarf at work for the Salvation Army.  I love being able to volunteer at work and I really love getting to do crafty volunteer work!

5.  I can't seem to find a local radio station that plays Christmas music.  Shouldn't there be a station that dedicates December to Christmas music?  Is that just a back-home kind of thing?

Give Thanks Jar - Highlights

November is officially behind us and our Give Thanks Jar was full to the brim with things to be thankful for.  Hubs and I were very diligent about giving thanks each day.  I'm positive this is a tradition we'll be continuing for our future Novembers.

We opened the jar together last night over wine and read through everything that we are thankful for. 

Here are a some of the highlights:

• All our family members were kept safe during Hurricane Sandy
• Spontaneous date nights!
• Having a warm apartment
• The right to vote
• Being able to provide for ourselves
• Getting to take a walk during a lunch break
• Dishwasher safe pots & pans!
• Model railroading as a destresser
• Quiet crafty weekends
• Cabot cheese powder for popcorn - YUM
• That we have each other!