Unveiling

Well, I can finally share a few of the homemade items from this Christmas. Above are two of the four pairs of earrings I made (as you can see, I made them way back when there was still grass to be seen).

Above is a watercolor paining I made of Kurt Vonnegut, as a gift for my Vonnegut-obsessed husband.

And I baked and batched up a number of cookie tins (with homemade tags) as gifts this year, featuring chocolate/hazelnut shortbread, Russian tea cakes, mini chocolate-covered nut cups, and of course cornflake wreaths (the very last of which I will devour today with my lunch).

I also made a few other little things here and there...mix CDs, homemade gift certificates, cards, scrapbook page, etc. I think I'll expand the homemade gift-giving even more next year. Yes...it takes more time and it's far easier to just go buy something. But I had a lot of fun making things, and one can't deny it saves money. And really nothing took very long. All four earrings took maybe 30 minutes total, and even the watercolor was only about an hour's worth of work. Probably the biggest hassle was baking cookies, but my plan for making the dough ahead of time and freezing it receives two giant thumbs-up.

Sorry the photos aren't so great...I have yet to master low light close-ups. I think I need to use a tripod.

Hope you had a great Christmas! In my next post I'll share the absurdities of our romantic get-away in Minneapolis. And hopefully I'll have updates on HP. But for now, I'll leave you with this heartwarming Christmas tableau, where my various office desk totems (loch ness monster, three-legged pig, and green sweater bunny) gather around the roaring fireplace and decorate their Christmas tree.