One tradition I wanted to implement was to share our celebration with someone who needed a family to celebrate with. Since we celebrate Christmas for the coming of Jesus, the ultimate giver of good things, I thought this would be a good way to show that. WELL..... this ended up being our only guest-
A friend's elderly and special needs dog. I was happy to help to allow them to travel and see their family. She did delay festivities for a little bit-
Yes, thats me shampooing the carpet. The accident happened minutes of her coming in and before we could even wrangle her into the downstairs bathroom (reinforced my not-so-fondness of indoor pets at the moment.... my Parson Russell terrier currently living with my parents is proof of that). It made the first gift presentation to the kids a little tricky also since that gift was this-
An outdoor/barn cat that we adopted (free from craigslist). For mousing and rodent reduction. Teensie is his name at the moment and he is house broken, if needed, and very friendly. We actually got two cats but we like Teensie the best at the moment. The other is solid black too and has long hair.
It ended up being a fun, low key day with just the husband and kids. We had a delicious meal-
Brined Pork Rib Roast (oh my stars!!, I love my pigs) and roasted beets with herb cream and feta gratin.
and just played with our new things-
To end I wanted to share another first from this Christmas. Last week we traveled to Upstate New York to have a brief Christmas with family.
Ambitious west coast Sister T declared this Christmas we could only give homemade gifts. The awesomeness of these gifts has to be shared, it was fun.
Here is what my husband made the guys-
Useable fishing lures... he whittled, painted, detailed and balanced them himself
He used mesh fabric to paint the scales detail and tied the tail himself-
Here is what I made, not as impressive-
For the ladies... knitted dish clothes, nylon mesh knitted dish scrubbies and hand painted necklaces (how to linked for necklace, but I made the beads smaller and changed the colors).
Work apron for Dad T (for his awesome woodworking, you will see later)-
Door draft stopper for Brother T-
Dad T made baby girl a Xylophone (yeah, he made that beautiful toy)-
And each family a cribbage board that has a slide pocket on the back for the pegs-
AND if that wasn't enough, Adirondack chairs too!!
Little man got a truck pillow case from Mom T (he LOVES trucks! and sleep most nights)
She also made us these beautiful table runners (very, very pretty... its on our table now)-
And homemade strawberry and rhubarb jam (death to store bought jam)-
Brother T gave us a garlic braid from their garden (you cant buy garlic this good in the store so we were excited) and some shallots too-
West coast Sister T took a metal working class and made all the girls copper formed necklaces, very pretty and kid friendly (yay, I can wear a piece of jewelry now that the kids cant yank off and break). I LOVE one of a kind jewelry.
And herb drying racks (pictures don't do them justice, nice frames with screens as the rack)-
NY sister T made homemade vanilla extract (yes, seriously) and salted caramel hot cocoa mix (AWESOME! said with vibrato) homemade food items are in a different world from store bought.
Last, my mom sent another cleaver DIY food Christmas gift. Homemade 'canned' carrot cake (jar is sealed so its preserved). Yum, we like getting food in the mail-
I hope I didn't forget anything, there was sooo much good stuff. High standards set for our first homemade gift Christmas.
Exciting HOUSE UPDATE news. Our BAY WINDOW is scheduled to be replaced/rebuilt this week. Will post pictures as soon as able!!!!
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