Homemade Christmas

What a fun Christmas we had this year! Our kids are the PERFECT age for Christmas. All the excitement without much greed. It was perfect. Everyone in my family came to our house and it was pretty relaxed. We didn't have anywhere to go and we had our family all around us. Though we really miss all of our family out west. We started Christmas Eve with our tradition of opening one gift each, plus a Christmas movie to watch that night together as a family. I made fleece blankets for each of the kids and we got "The Grinch Who Stole Christmas."

I broke down and bought new ornaments for my tree this year. So I redecorated it. All of my Christmas decorations are the whimsical red, white, light green and dark green.
Avri had made "Magical Reindeer Food" at preschool that had glitter in it to help the reindeer fly. Since it was raining, we left it in the container and put it outside. You can't really tell from this picture, but they ate the food and even left some real reindeer droppings in our front yard.
With Kendall's layoff this year we really didn't know how much money there would be for Christmas, so we made gifts for each other this year. They were all done months ago, but I was so excited to give them their gifts and they were all a huge hit! I made these chairs for each of the kids. They are semi-adjustable in height, so the chair can grow with the child.
Kendall made Harry Potter wands for each of the kids. He learned how to turn wood on the lathe and carved these babies. The big sturdy one is Talmage's, the middle one Avri's and the smallest is Sadie's I think they turned out beautifully! And we've had so many spells cast on us that I'm not sure we'll ever be normal again. ;)
It was so gratifying for me that every time the kids opened a gift they had to be sitting in their chairs. It made for a little less chaos, too since they had a place to be.
I made my first ever quilt for Kendall this year. It was quite the challenge keeping it a secret from him, but I did it! I pieced it from our old jeans, pockets and all and it is HUGE and HEAVY and very WARM. It's hard to tell from the picture, but there is a matching pillow in the left corner. Avri made it! She learned how to use the sewing machine and sewed the cover herself. It looks fantastic and she was so proud of herself!
The last, but definitely not least, homemade gifts were the ones Kendall made for me. He designed these himself which means they are practical and functional. And he had me in mind when he made them exactly match my kitchen table. I've already used them both so many times.The other big exciting gift was a gift that my brother gave to us. We had to set it up in Grandpa's pole barn because we couldn't wait to use it!
I know what we'll be doing come spring. I'm really glad he bought the safety enclosure for it. It wasn't totally set up in the garage because it was too big, but it will be nice and safe and so much fun in the spring. Thanks Ammon!

We felt like the homemade Christmas was really the nicest thing. It was so much more exciting and meant so much more than anything else. We had to start early, but it was so worth it. And I hope that the kids understood at least a little bit of the meaning in it.