Tuesday, January 3, 2012

a very homemade Christmas

This Christmas, we drew names with my family for the gift exchange. 
And we made a rule that your gift had to be homemade. 

It was awesome. 
Seriously the most excited we've ever been to open each other's presents and definitely the most memorable! 

Even the process of making our gifts was fun. 
Chas and I loved having our own separate project to work on in tandem on weekend nights while we listened to Christmas music.

Then, to top it all off, we had a little photo shoot and took pictures of everyone with their gift. 
Like I said, we were all pretty excited about our gifts. 

Here's the breakdown: 

Rosie made me this amazing car seat cover! 
(Baby Banks was nice enough to let me use his car seat for the pic.)

I think little cryings will love it!

Chas painted a family portrait for Sarah!

He worked really hard on this and I'm so proud of him for sticking with such an ambitious present!

This is Sarah's husband, Michael. (Love him.)

Michael is a huge smarty-pants computer programmer. 

So Lizzie made Michael his very own computer programming wizard cape!

Sarah made Lizzie this killer jacket and hand-bound book/diary! 

I made Hailey a big, snuggly fleece blanket! 
(Should be helpful in securing a suitor.)

Michael used his hands ("handmade") to pick out some college essentials for Rosie. 

My favorite part about this was apparently he asked his wife, Sarah, "Do you think it would be ok if I got Rosie some pantiliners?"

Michael knows what's up. 

And Hailey painted this ahhh-mazing portrait for Chas! 

I'll have to scan the original so you can really see how glorious and perfect it is. 

We're gonna commission her to paint one of me and then we can hang them both right above little crying's crib! 

28 comments:

Caitlin said...

Wow, what awesome gifts! That painting of Chas is amazing, it'll be so neat to have the paintings over the baby's crib! :)

Elizabeth @ Love Is the Adventure said...

Those gifts are so great! I love the portraits!

This year, my family exchanged nothing but books. So everyone bought everyone one book. So now I have a stack of books to read instead of my grad school books! YAY!

Anonymous said...

Wow, you guys are so creative! The jacket and the portraits are particularly awesome! You guys are lucky to have such amazing family :)

Sarah @ Scissors and a Whisk said...

I love this!! It's so thoughtful and makes the holiday more special :)

Ruthie Hart said...

you guys are all so talented!!!!!! My family drew names this year and I did some homemade stuff...I would love to do this next year!

jackie said...

this is such a sweet idea :) i love the painting chas made! look at him go :)

The Everyday Album said...

You have some really great artists in your family! Those pieces are lovely.

Brianna said...

Ohhh I love all the gifts! I probably couldn't make any of these things, your family is very crafty and artistic, :)

Hannah said...

everyone is so crafty and artistic! amazing! the computer programming wizard cape is HILARIOUS.

Anonymous said...

I love love love that car seat cover, though you can tell that all of the gifts were thoughtful and that everyone put a lot of love into them! The cape is great too. You have wonderfully talented family!

Beka said...

I love the idea of homemade gifts! might do that with my family next year :)

lauren jean allece said...

Oh wow, both of those paintings are incredible!

Unknown said...

wow so cute and what a great idea! you have a talented family, dang! love it all!!

mommaruthsays said...

Amazing homemade gifts! I love the homemade cape, ahh!!

simply megan. said...

Yes homemade is the best!!! My sister made me an apron for Christmas and I just loved it :))

Alexis Kaye said...

wow that's such an awesome idea!! I want to do this with my siblings one year!!

Cindy said...

This is such an awesome Christmas idea. :) I love all the gifts and even more so how they turned out! haha! Happy new year, sam!

Samantha said...

That is SO CooL! I have to say your sisters homemade jacket is the bomb!

Amanda said...

What a Beautiful idea!!!

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Amanda
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Unknown said...

so many fun gifts! such a talented fam!

Kari said...

What an amazingly artistic and beautiful family you have!

Bryttan said...

What a fun idea! My family did a similar thing a few years back, and we loved it! We still talk about it. You are all so talented! Does your sister Hailey have a website for her art? I'd like to look!

What's the status on your book? You are an answer to my prayers, and I'm dying to read it.

Happy new year!

Deanna said...

What a fun gift exchange! Looks like you all had fun!

{XOXO, Deanna}
sweethappenstance.blogspot.com

Maria Larsen said...

This is such an amazing idea for Christmas gifts! I love all of them equally and at the same time wish we had done something like this for Christmas this year! The snuggly blanket and the computer programming blanket look like the best for me! I'm all about warm blankets!

Rachael said...

Love that idea that all the gifts would be homemade!
You have some talented friends! Wow.

Catherine said...

I LOVE that you guys did homemade gifts for each other. How special and memorable for Christmas!! My family doesn't have enough artistic ability and talent to make amazing gifts like that! I hope your holidays were wonderful!

Unknown said...

this is lovely!!!! so glad you got all the photos :)

Jessica Holly said...

um hello. Talented family!! Those painting especially, and the coat! I'm in awe.