Was looking for something online and found this, which I love.
Month: December 2011 Page 1 of 4
When I go shopping for my nieces and nephews, I often wish I were still a kid. The toys are awesome. One find I was particularly jealous of giving proud to give away were some drinking glasses from the Container Store. The proud recipients were two of my nephews and my one cousin once removed by marriage (I looked that up but it sounds confusing … my cousin-in-law’s child). I know I’ve given a good gift when it starts to get used right away.
The look of concentration by the one, the look of pure joy by the other. I’m so proud.
There is something about giving a mug as a gift that seems so generic. Right? And yet this year for Christmas, both of my sisters got mugs from me. Lame? I don’t think so.
The older of the two (both are younger than me) is a die hard Lionel Richie fan. She is Super Fan Number One. So when I stumbled across a hand-painted Lionel Richie travel mug, I knew my sister had to have it. I’m pretty sure it was a hit.
I was a little sad that the hand-painted Lionel Richie teapot was out of stock. Hello? Is it tea you’re looking for? Hysterical.
My other sister has a thing for men in uniform. I know lots of ladies feel the same, but I think my sister takes it to a new level. Once a bunch of us were hanging out at my parents house and Wonder Boy came over straight from work wearing medical scrubs. Now scrubs aren’t exactly a uniform but pretty close. As soon as we saw him we all collectively agreed it would be bad when my sister spotted him. I don’t know if it really turned out bad, per se, but she was very enthusiastic about his outfit. Anyway, when I saw a I Love Men in Uniform mug posted on Pinterest and immediately bought it.
So now my take on mugs is they are not lame as long as they are awesome.
Wonder Boy and I have established this wonderful tradition of making jam every year with the grapes from our backyard. Depending on how much we make, we use it as Christmas gifts for some combination of family, friends and co-workers. Last year Wonder Boy and I made the same mistake we make every year by underestimating how long it takes to make and preserve jam. We spent many hot hours in our kitchen making that sticky, purple jam.
This year our grape yield was nil. (It could be because we have never really pruned our grape vines appropriately…) So Wonder Boy and I were panicked about how we could continue our tradition of homemade preserves.
This year we explored making something new. Apple Butter. It was such a better experience! It is so much easier to make than jam and yields so much more as an end result. We spent half as much time in the kitchen and have three times as many jars to show for it!
We used the Ball Blue Book apple butter recipe. I cannot recommend it enough!
I’m always searching for the perfect gift and ways to make a gift awesome. Chaos and Loving It suggested some Chuck Taylor’s as a Christmas gift for her sons. As the proud owner of five pairs of converse, I jumped all over the idea. I partnered with my mother-in-law on the purchases and she got my youngest nephew a pair of the shoes. He loved them and kept calling them his house shows.
If I were five years old and got shoes as a gift, I’d think they were boooooring. So I improved upon the idea. (I didn’t suggest add-ons for the younger nephew because, though I love him lots, I’ve seen him run and it’s cute but not … steady looking. He didn’t need any flair added to his shoes that could impede balance.)
Via the Smallfly shop on Etsy I bought some lightning bolts.
I think these are awesome. And now my nephew can be super fast, just like The Flash.