An Old-Fashioned Christmas: Homemade Gifts

I like to make some of my presents each year. Half of this is because I'm poor/cheap. The other half is because I do like doing a little creative activity to balance all of the craziness of the season. Also, it's a nice old-fashioned thing to do. Years ago, most presents were homemade, and though I'm not a knitter and I'm hardly what you might call "handy," I can still do a few things myself. On my mom's side of the family, she has 7 brothers and sisters, and they all have a slew of kids and grandkids. So, the kids get the "real" presents, you know, the store-bought stuff. But all of us "grown-ups" make things for each family. So we each have to make about 10 of the same gift. This year, we did white-chocolate-covered pretzels, which were easy and came out cute and yummy.

Keep reading for some more of my present-making adventures this year!

This here below is what we call "process" at my house. You know how art teachers are always telling students that it's as much about the process as it is about the product? I feel like while that may be true for life lessons, it does not apply to Christmas presents. Below, see my process:

And here, as I'm making a coupon book for hubs and a pinterest-inspired picture to hang in Stenni's room:

A few lonely white-chocolate-and-sprinkle-covered pretzels that didn't make it into bags (we made about 60 pretzels last night!):

Our finished pretzel bags to give to all of my mom's family tonight:

A cookie tray for my brother-in-law's Christmas Eve get-together:

Hubby's mystery gift Christmas ornament. It's been hanging on the tree for like a week, and he only noticed it today when I pointed it out!:

Stenni's finished pinterest-inspired wall art. I sing her this song all the time! She won't let me wrap it and is super-excited about her sunshine picture:

Hubs' coupon book. I included a few romance-type things, and a few free time things, because he doesn't have any of that. The man is practically a saint. I would go into details but I won't in case he reads this today at work!

 

Have you made any gifts this year? Is there anyone who makes all of their gifts? Let me know!