Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas! We hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas!

We will be spending Christmas with our families in the cities!

We have had a busy month getting ready for Christmas.

This year I decided that I will try to make most of the gifts myself. Since I am the biggest procrastinator, I didn't start until two weeks ago, and I didn't really get into it until Roger came home. He helped by looking after the kids and home while I whisked away trying to accomplish all the things that I wanted to do for Christmas! I am writing them down now so I will remember them for next year.

The first thing we did was A LOT of baking. I was in a cookie exchange and we usually hand out yummy treats to our neighbors and friends. Blake and Emma were very excited to "stamp" their cookies!!

Even Ethan got into "stamping". He doesn't like to bake, but he loves to cook!!

Caleb decided to help me in other areas that required attention!

I was also in an ornament exchange and came up with this idea, thanks to my friend Tammy for teaching me how to embroidery.

The gifts that I made were little tile magnets with vinyl lettering that I forgot to take a picture. Thanks to my friend Kim for providing those as wonderful friend gifts! I put them each in these handmade bags for them to enjoy!

Last minute Roger's family decides to give gifts to all the adults and I had to come up with an idea to give them. We made these in YW and they loved it so much that I thought they were an easy gift to make. They are heated rice packs.

My favorite gift that I made were these cute angel bags. My friend Amber had posted them on her blog, and I have wanted to try to make them but I didn't know how. She sent me here to learn how to make them. I am not very good at sewing, but I did enjoy making these for my sisters!

Now the whole reason that I got into making gifts this year was because of my mom. My moms birthday is a week before Christmas and trying to find a birthday "non-Christmas" gift is never easy. She doesn't know why, but for me I guess I just want it to be something special for her birthday and not be related to Christmas (I have had that experience before:))

So I called my friend Lori and asked her to help me with my moms gift this year. She did a fabulous job teaching me, coaching me and encouraging me through the whole project....and here it is...

a patchwork quilt for my mom.

It wasn't as easy as I though, but I really enjoyed making it and looking forward to making more. Now that I am finished, (night before Christmas-barely made it) I can sit and relax and enjoy Christmas with my family. I enjoyed making these gifts for my friends and families, and I hope they enjoyed it just as much. I hope you all have a Merry Christmas and a great New Year!!