What we MADE for Christmas: All done!

We are almost there, but I am scheduling this post for a little later (it is now only about 11:30 am) so by the time it hits we (hopefully) will be totally done!

Here's a shot of the girls' stocking loot--Suzi's on the left and Ivey's on the right. That doll drives me nuts but I think Ivey will still love her. As you can see, we caved and bought some Play-Doh and a book at the store. I don't regret either of those. The other two storebought gifts are for Suzi--a really cool German-made wooden fire truck (which we never could've made ourselves) and a Don't Break the Ice game, which is one of my childhood favorites. I feel pretty good about our gifts for the kids this year. Wow, have we come a long way from Christmases past. I know it looks like Ivey has more stuff, but Suzi has more--and wayyy more expensive--gifts to open.

These are gift baskets for a couple of the guys on our list. We were going to make the baskets but we didn't have time, so we picked a couple up at Goodwill yesterday and tied ribbon on them. We made our favorite chocolate chip cookies and beef jerky, and all that is missing is a cute little bird ornament. For Jordan's brother we made a cheesecake. Important note: If you plan to give cheesecake as a gift and don't want to give away the bottom of your springform pan along with it, research how to get the cake out of the pan before you bake it.

So far, this is all that exists of the bird ornaments. Some cut out wool pieces. I will finish these later at my parents' house and on the road tonight if necessary. I've made a bunch already so this is no big deal to finish up.

The other night we finished this Coke cap basket for my brother. It was about ten times more trouble to make than we expected. I wired one little row because it looked like fun and then said "no thanks Jordy, you can finish it!" He did a great job. I hope my brother the Coke enthusiast appreciates it.

And finally, the Wardlaw shield for my dad, who is really into his Scottish heritage and going to highland games events. Jordan cut it and sanded it and sprayed on the blue, and I insisted on painting it all myself, because I knew I wanted it a certain way and allowing anyone else to lay a paintbrush on it would only end in fighting and crying and drama. I am just like that. It might look simple but gosh this took some work. Those estoiles (the starfish things) had to be turned a certain way and spaced a certain way, at a certain size, and the mascles (the diamonds) had to line up right. I had to put four or five coats of paint on the things. Now it's done, though, and I'm so happy. I hope my dad likes it.

I am feeling so much better now. Ready to chill and open presents. I go through moments where I think no one is going to like what we made, our gifts are horrible, everything is awful, but then I think we did a pretty good job. I hope that even if people aren't necessarily giddy over the actual item, they can see that a lot of love went into them. We did our best and we did it out of love and because of this.

Merry Christmas everyone!