(This is from our visit to Disneyland in early December. Cheap way to keep the picture of yourself from the ride? Take a snapshot with your phone and decorate it with an editing program online! :>)
For Genie, who loves Christmas decor, we made this Christmas tree picture. We bought a wood board from Michael's, covered it with some textured scrapbooking paper, painted the frame a dark brown, and hot-glued sticks to make a tree shape. Fun fact?? We got the sticks by walking across the street to our neighbor's little tree and snipping off a couple of low-lying branches. It was seriously like we were snatching cars or something; very serious ninja business. Who knew gifts could also mean free pruning for neighbors? Win.
At Thanksgiving, I met Kaleb's lovely step-cousin, Samantha, who is best friends with Richard Carpenter's daughter (I have no clue how we got on that subject, but what a happy discovery!). My dad's favorite singer is Karen Carpenter, and we grew up listening to the Carpenters' Christmas album, among others. So we asked (with a pretty please and a cherry on top) if Sam could ask Richard to sign an album for us. We ordered the album online - a used one that looked pretty good - and when Richard got it, he apparently said "this is crap", and generously gave us a brand new album AND cd from his own personal collection, both of which he signed. His only request was that the items not "turn up on Ebay". My dad, who was nearly in tears when he got the framed pieces, assured me that these would be treasured and very special family heirlooms for years to come. :>
For Katelyn and Stephen, we needed small things to supplement their gifts, so we got simple holiday mugs, hot cocoa mix, and wrapped up some marshmallows in baggies. For Katelyn - who is downright obsessed with Christmas - I used an empty jar to put the scraps from peppermint bark in, attached a spoon, and called it "Instant Christmas". Delicious to sprinkle in hot cocoa or coffee, any time of the year!
For Roy, Kaleb talks about how much he loves Genie (Kaleb's step-mom), so we google-mapped three locations: where the two of them met, where they got married, and where they live now. Then we printed the maps, cut them out in heart shapes, and put them in a clear glass display frame we got from Michael's. Now it's sitting on the mantlepiece, right next to the family Christmas picture of them from a few years back.
All in all, it was a truly lovely Christmas. Some of the other gifts we made (but missed snapping pictures of) were homemade artwork for my mom, sweet birch sugar scrub for the girls, popcorn bowls made out of reshaped and recycled records, and little individual bags of peppermint bark for everyone. For gift tags, we cut out the Christmas shapes from the Trader Joe's and Whole Food's brown paper bags, hot-glued them to sturdy cardboard boxes, and attached them with red or green ribbon. It was great for us to have a week or so of "craft dates", and meaningful to give things which truly did come from our hearts.
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