Homemade Christmas 2014...part two...

I usually have my homemade gifts done far before my other shopping is complete, but this year I was a little off. I thought and planned for one larger homemade gift for the all the kids. But it wasn't working out so I had to come up with some individual gifts for them. Here's how the gifts went down this year:

I made Hallie a knit pencil skirt - the same pattern she made over the summer which has become her very favorite skirt.


Hunter is in Kindergarten and is starting his fascination with writing stories and drawing pictures. This roll is large enough it will probably last for years!



Bennett loves to hear stories about when he was younger and loves to look through the blog and recognize himself. I printed off pictures - birth to present - of him. Some have his siblings a few have us or grandparents, but mostly it's him and he loves it.



Cannon has no idea Christmas even took place - but he still got a gift! He'll thank me later!



And because Blurb is my absolute favorite - Steve also received a book: 2010 Blog book. Yes I'm behind. At nearly 400 pages they take a while to layout. It's really more of a family gift as it's an account of us, but Steve gets to open them each year when I complete one. I realize at this pace I'll always be four years behind, I'm hoping to make up ground with an extra book this year!




My favorite gift I made (next to the Nativity puzzle of course) was Steve's t-shirt quilt.


I've been saving these shirts for years for this exact purpose. I hid them in our house in Milwaukee. I hid them in this house. I hid them driving up to Idaho so I could work on it last summer. I'm happy for it to come out of hiding. Each shirt means something and it tells the story of him: Shirts from high school, mission, our dating years, family trips, college, jobs (at least his first job).

He was surprised. Shirts he had long thrown away suddenly back in his hands as well as the memories. The whole reason I look forward to homemade gifts!