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!

Homemade Christmas...part one...

Steve's mom made a nativity puzzle just like this years and years ago and it has become a favorite holiday decoration for the grandchildren. When my sister-in-law mentioned last year that she wanted the puzzle - I immediately knew I wanted to re-create it for their family this year when the family gift giving rotation had us giving to them (we won't give to them for another 8 years!)

This gift has been on my mind most the year. I figured I'd purchase a scroll saw sometime this year which would make this puzzle a breeze. But I didn't buy one. So I looked to use someone else's. I couldn't find anyone. The other problem was trying to find the pattern. The original pattern was out of print and try as I may, I couldn't find it. By October, I was starting to think of new ideas for gifts. But I couldn't let this great gift idea go.

In November, I found a laser cutting facility in the area, Phoenix Custom Lasering. They were great to work with and totally affordable. I took a picture of the puzzle and created a pattern from it using Illustrator and they cut it up for me - I figured if I was going to the trouble I might as well make two so we could enjoy one.

I've never tole painted so it was a little daunting. But I painted and painted...and painted some more.

For three whole weeks our kitchen table looked like this:

There was sheer panic when my sister-in-law was stopping by and this is how the table looked. We threw it all in a box and put it in the back room!

I finished it with 18 hours to spare! Painting it wasn't necessarily difficult - just very detailed and time consuming. If I never tole paint again...it will be okay!





Like the Lego costumes of Halloween...the puzzle was a lot of work that I won't do again - but still totally worth it.

2014 Christmas Card...

As a graphic designer, Christmas cards are something I look forward to and plan far in advance.

This year's card idea hit me in September when we were contemplating Halloween costumes. We were the Incredibles on our card one year, why not be Lego people this year?! But if I was going to go to all the effort in creating the time-consuming costumes, the card deserved a little extra punch.

Here's the front and back. "Everything (at Christmas time) is Awesome"


And the inside - a pop-up lego family. "When you are part of a team. Merry Christmas from our team to yours."



The whole idea driving this card was the pop-up, its what I was most excited about designing. And as I started pricing dies out I saw my vision being slowly squashed due to price. But the printer I usually use tipped me off on a search to finding a laser die cut service and I found a great one. If anyone is looking for affordable die cuts - smartpress.com was awesome - so much cheaper than traditional dies.

And because these questions were asked time and time again after we sent out our card:
Yes, those lego people are really us.
No they are not photoshopped on.
Yes, they were slightly uncomfortable and somewhat hard to see out of.
No, I will never make one of these costumes again!
Yes, I am keeping them. They're currently wrapped in plastic in the attic for who knows how long before we pull them down and revive the Lego family.
Yes, we were a hit at the neighborhood Halloween party and basically ended up posing with every family for a photo op. And most predicted the Lego family would make the Christmas card.

I've said this before but it's my favorite card to date!

Christmas is still lingering...

I can't remember a time when someone in the house was sick and didn't pass it on to somebody else. Steve was sick last week. It didn't end with him. I was in the middle of taking Christmas stuff down when it hit me hard. It was weird how fast it came on. One minute I was packing the nativity, the next I was lying on the couch. I didn't get off that couch for days. Steve was still under the weather, I was completely out and my sister was visiting. Awesome.

Knowing what Steve went through I was quick to get flu medicine. Fortunately for me, the flu medicine worked and Steve and I both started to reclaim life this morning. Still not 100%. Not even a solid 80%. But we're getting there.

And wouldn't you know it, the Christmas decorations I was packing last week...they are in the same exact position as when I abandoned them for the couch.

I wish I could say I put them away today. But I wasn't up for it today either. Maybe tomorrow. I still have to tackle the tree. We're enjoying a festive January!

Christmas Programs and such...

Catching up on Christmas programs that seemed to clog the schedule the week before Christmas.

Bennett had his first preschool program. He had practiced those songs for a while and although he didn't know all the words, he was ready. He was animated and did all the actions just as he was taught. The costume changes were the best. The elf hat...too funny.




And of course he would ask Santa for a ghost!


Hunter had his first Kindergarten program and I thank those blessed teachers who work with these rambunctious kids and who are wise enough to keep the program to 15 minutes and include cookies for dessert!




We gave all the kids teacher's the same gift this year, made life easy.


I got to be in Hunter's classroom to help make gingerbread houses. I love that this has become a school activity and not a home activity! They also had all the houses pre-built when we got there. They had a group of parents come the day before to build them. They used hot glue and piped on the frosting. Not a bad way to go!



Each kid was asked to have an adult there to help them - many of which were dads. It just so happen that the two kids that didn't have adults show up were both at Hunter's table. I could see they were sad and it was breaking my heart. So I offered my gingerbread decorating services to one of the little boys. He kindly rejected my help and said, "That's okay, I'd rather have a dad help me, they build better than moms." I wanted to shake my finger at him and say, "Oh no you didn't." But instead I said, "Oh boy, you don't know how wrong you are. Right, Hunter?" Hunter gave me the thumbs up in agreement!

Christmas 2014...

Christmas was fun. Peaceful. Laid back.


The kids woke up just after seven and explored their stockings for a bit. Steve's parents joined us while the kids opened their presents. There were fist pumps. Bright-eyed and open mouth faces. Squeals of excitement. I don't want to sound over-confident, but in my opinion, we nailed it! In all reality its hard to mess-up when you're kids are 9 years old and younger.

Its funny because as I was scrolling through instagram on Christmas eve seeing all the beautiful Christmas eve tree displays of friends, I suddenly got worried. Are my kids going to like their gifts? Should we have done more? Are they going to be happy? There was nothing to worry about. They're kids and their expectations are beyond low so they were happy with everything. I'm hoping we can get many more years of low expectations!


Hallie didn't ask for anything and she's at a tough age where she's beyond most toys and yet she's not old enough to be into clothing. She said, "Surprise me." I followed up with, "Are you good with clothes?" She quickly responded, "Don't get me clothes." A karaoke machine was her surprise. She's been loving it. Especially with her new T. Swift cd.



Hunter asked for two things: A skateboard and legos. Check and check.



Bennett asked for a ghost. That's right...a ghost. Not sure where he came up with that and yet every single time he was asked about what he wanted he proudly repeated: Ghost. I tried having him describe it to me and all I got was that it's blue (his favorite color) and it doesn't scare people. Oddly enough I couldn't find anything to meet his request. Luckily, he was just as stoked about his new helmet!



Cannon - happy as can be climbing over everyone else's presents!

He did open one present and gave the best response.


Steve went to my favorite store and made me a very happy wife! I know it may appear that I'm posing in front of someone else's pile, but it's mine. All mine. He loves me!


Steve - our non-materialistic husband/father doesn't have a whole lot of wants and wishes so we usually have to get creative. Here he is with one of his gifts.


After opening presents, Cannon went down for a nap and the kids continued to play.

The aftermath wasn't too bad:

We made our traditional monkey bread and didn't even bother to use plates!



By late afternoon we made our way to Steve's parents house to eat dinner and spend time with extended family. The day didn't feel rushed. The kids played and I got to spend plenty of time sitting on the couch skyping with my family who lives away. The day was successful on all accounts.