This month we were finally settled into our new (old) house. It is a wonderful place so cozy and homey. We really made an effort to make it comfortable for our 3 children, since Nebraska winters can be long and if you let them dreary. A home is made of people, but our house is a great accessory. Bill and I painted Emily's room an adorable pink and it's a place that she loves to be. Wil and Bob's room is blue and has a sports theme. Perfect for two brothers sharing a large space.
After spending nearly our entire Dislocation Allowance redecorating (okay carpets are a necessity) the relic of a house we chose, it was time to joyously shop for Christmas presents! What is a girl to do when she has so many people that she loves and cares about but little money to spend. Then my close friend sent me a daily email about getting into the "true" spirit of Christmas. It's not about the amount of money you spend but the time and thought you put into the gift. It really hit home with me. I love to make things, but I always feel like the people I give them to are totally weirded out by my kindergartenesque creations.
I knew that I was going to have my husband work on our family Christmas card. We live so far away from our friends and family, I like to send pictures so that they can remember what we all look like. We posed outside the parade grounds on base after the tree lighting ceremony. All the kids decked out in their Children's Place Rugby Sweaters... I love those things, every year we buy a set and voila a matching group of kids for all their casual winter activities.
The pictures turned out great and I found a card style I liked. My husband being the graphics whiz that he is created the layout and did the printing for me. All I had to do was add the stamps! Wow was that a time saver. I thought for a while there we were going to be sending out New Years cards....
So now on to the gifts. Hmmm. Well the first place I always go to get inspiration if the craft store. I love it. I could spend days in there looking at the same things figuring out different ways to use them. Of course nothing was really gift worthy. My sister in law wanted plain white dish towels. Any one who knows me knows that I don't do plain white anything. So where do you find that? Right, Linnens and Things. While I was there I saw this adorable apron. It said domestic goddess on the front and it had rhinestone lettering, it was black and pink. Totally me. I wanted it so bad! And then I had sticker shock. 29.99 WOW, I mean for as much work as that little china boy put into making it, I am sure that he deserved the 29.99, but I was not willing to pay that much. So I set off for the craft store. I found plain black aprons. Roughly $5.o0 each and then I found iron on sayings and patches. I made three of these. One for my mom, one for my wonderful sister in law and of course one for me. I am the one with three kids and no dishwasher, I truly NEEDED an apron. ha ha ha. Finally I made something someone would actually like.
Then it came time to embellish Jamie's towels. As I said before, I don't do white. So I used some of the same iron on patches and made some adorable, still white, but a little fancy dish towels. I thought they were really cute.
Remember those pictures we took for the Christmas card. I used those again too. I picked up some glass picture frame coasters at penney's on black friday for 5.95 each set. I then put the pictures from the tree lighting ceremony inside, and those too made great gifts for the ladies in our life. I hope they like them. :)
So now my confidence is soaring. I decided, okay Bill's in a new office, we definitely need to start out on the right foot. So I begin my annual baking. And I bake and bake and bake, until I can't bake anymore. I made candied and spiced nuts, old fashioned chex mix, my girlfriend's late mother in law's Texas trash, and of course sugar cookies. I decorated them like I never knew I could. I was so proud. I wanted to show them off to everyone.
That is where I am at now. I am addicted to sugar cookies. I love to make the dough. I love the smell when I roll them out. I get so inspired by the different shaped cookie cutters, and the best part is watching my children smile in amazement when I present them with a cookie I made just for them. They love them. At least that's what they have been telling me. If you would like me to make some for you for your next celebration or party, please just let me know via email at jlagesse@gmail.com and I will be happy to be in touch. As I said it is a labor of love for me. I am going to move on to cakes next. Wil has a birthday coming up and has already been through the wilton yearbook. Hopefully my experience with cakes will match that with cookies.
Here are some pictures of the cookies I sent to my little brother, Matt for his birthday. He is a huge spurs fan. My favorite is the little basketball player, I hope he was yummy!
