The Glow

I know its been a great holiday when I wake up the morning after and the world seems to have a peaceful glow. We succeeded this year in having a holiday that was busy, joyous, and full without being stressful. I surprised the family on Christmas Eve with bags of treats - the table of pickled vegetables and baked goods you saw yesterday.

And on Christmas morning, most of my gifts to others were hand made or the 'just perfect' thing I knew all along they wanted. I never once set foot in a mall and I only went to one box store - for bows and Alex's stocking stuffers. I hope to start planning ahead early enough next year to make most of my gifts again; it was so much more fun this way.

My Mom and Aunts all have creaky joints, so they each received a heating pad. The pretty cover is removable, so you can wash off the menthol, and the rice bag inside is flannel.
My Uncle, whose passion is fishing, received a basket of snacks. Homemade granola, vegetable chips from the farmers market and extras of the Christmas goodies. Dad, the hot sauce fan, received the habanero hot sauce made from my bounty of habaneros. (And an extra, personal gift that made him cry.) I didn't think to get photos of either.

For Grandma, my sister and I made a photo album of pictures old and new. It was not only a hit with her, but with the rest of the family too.
I forgot to take a picture of the gift I worked longest on - a collection of cloth grocery bags for my sister - and was most excited to show you. (I'll try to get a photo shoot with them soon.) I used pre-embellished denim and then made bags of assorted sizes to accommodate different types of groceries. I'm hoping the french seam will keep it strong enough, and I'm really pleased with the handles - both a strap for over your shoulder and small handles for gripping.

Of course, it turns out my sister forgot that she asked me to make those for her Christmas gift over two months ago and proceeded to make cloth grocery bags as gifts for other people. I couldn't believe it when the first one was opened. She swears its still perfect because she hasn't made any for herself, didn't have the long strap on hers and now she has a matching collection. I'm still pleased with them, but it definitely took the wind out of my sails a bit!

But, I think the rubble work scarf was my coup de grace, anyway. Here's the finished photo.
This one's hard to give up.

I have a few more gifts for people I'm not seeing until New Years, but all in all I'm feeling pretty proud of myself this morning.