Homemade Gifts and Merry Christmas!

It's been a busy few days!! The fruit roll ups I tried to make didn't turn out so well.  The pan I was using to make them "popped", so all of the blended fruit ran to one side. So one side was over dried and hard to chew and the other side was still goopy... I was highly disappointed.  I was even more disappointed to find out that I managed to screw up my fudge too... The outside of it set beautifully, but the inside was like a thick chocolate frosting... It tasted amazing, but I couldn't package it for gifts. So I am going to remake the fudge tonight!

We have a busy day here, we have to clean, cook, do some laundry, but I have everything wrapped, minus the homemade gifts that need to dry....Oh and it's Packer Day!! *GO PACK GO*

So we always make homemade gifts for grandparents, teachers, bus drivers, and so on.  This year I was really trying to think of ideas to give to our parents knowing that their hearts are heavy with the thought of Hubster enlisting in the Army and us moving away before next Christmas.  My in-laws were hard to make for and they ended up with two gifts.  One I had made here and it turned out great.  It's a sign that is personalized with all of the grandkids and their birthdays and then I sent it to walmart to be printed on a canvas.  Unfortunately I didn't put the order in at walmart soon enough so we won't get it until after Christmas.  The Hubster had a gift certificate to Best Buy and decided he wanted to buy my in-laws a webcam.  I think it's an amazing idea and I really hope they appreciate why their son bought it for them.

My mom is an avid baker, cook, and grandmother.  She loves her 4 grandchildren so much and is completely heartbroken at the thought of us moving away.  So I thought we'd do the salt clay hand prints, but the boy ducklings have such mitts for hands, ornaments would be a no-go.  So I found a cute idea on pinterest and went with it, and this is what we came up with:

Oldest Duckling:



Middle Duckling:



Littlest Duckling:



I personally love them! I think they are going to mean the world to my mom. There names, current year, and age are on the bottom, but I kept that out of the picture for now.


I think one of my most favorite gifts I had made was for my brother who is an engineer, and he is amazing at math, but horrible at spelling, so I had a shirt made for him that says:

I'm an
Engeneer
Enginere
Enginere
I'm good with Math

lol I am so excited to give it to him, I think he will find it hilarious! I am just so excited for Christmas. Spending time with family, eating great food, and watching the joy on every one's faces as they open their gifts. Hubster and I decided the year the oldest duckling was born that we wouldn't give each other gifts until the ducklings are grown. Our gift to each other is the joy on our children's face Christmas morning. We find it important to teach them about Christmas and they know Santa is for fun and Jesus is why we celebrate Christmas, but no matter how much we do not want Christmas to be about presents, the joy on our children's faces on Christmas morning is heartwarming.

So enough babbling, I have rolls, fudge,and bread to make and a house to clean. I hope everyone has a great Christmas and a Happy New Year!