Have yourself a crafty little Christmas

Every year I have such big expectations of what I want to do for homemade decorations or gifts. I usually don't get many done, but I wanted to share two things I did do that were new. In the spirit of being green, I dusted off my mom's sewing machine and scoured my closets for interesting fabrics to make re-usable gift bags. I didn't want Christmas fabric, but rather bags that could be used year round for birthdays, etc. If every family had 3-4 fabric bags they could use and re-use, the paper saved would be huge. This picture is of two of my favorite bags... the yellow and blue striped one is from the curtains that hung in Noah's nursery when he was first born. I also made one out of a favorite receiving blanket of Benny's. Jason and I decided we wouldn't part with these as it is such a wonderful reminder to see the fabric and remember when we used them. The other bag which is denim was made with an old pair of jeans I found of mine. Jeans that I wore years ago when I was a smidge larger than I am now. I'm happily giving that one away! No need to remember that.

The other thing I did was make the "fruit cake" decoration as Alanya calls it. I took my glass cake plate, filled the cover with fruit and flipped it. The only problem is, I missed a few Sunkist stickers on some fruit, and this morning I noticed one of the lemons is starting to go bad. Oh well. Haven't decided if I'll flip it back and try to fix it. Pretty and colorful though.

And finally, even though my intentions were good, some things just didn't happen for Christmas because of the ice storm, power outage, flooded basement, and did I mention that Alanya started throwing up last night? However I sat down yesterday and spent some time to write a little poem to stand in as an "IOU". I'm assuming my family is too busy this Christmas Eve morning to be reading this, so I'm including it here... Merry Christmas everyone!

Twas the week before Christmas and all through the house,

not a creature was stirring not even a mouse.
Intentions were good, my presents were planned,

the tree was put up all straight in its stand.
When all of a sudden one dark stormy night,

the power went out, it caused us some fright.
Food started to melt, the pumps overflowed,

laundry piled up and the house got so cold.
Our choices were few, our kids would come first,

presents must wait for the pipes may just burst.
Frustrated we both exclaimed to the night,

“No tv! No laptop! This just isn’t right!”
Our nightmare did end for the lights came back on,

but by then it was time that had passed us along.
So with a sad heart I’m sorry to say

I can’t hand you your gift as I wanted today.
I am working my best to complete it real soon,

In fact you should receive it before the new moon.
Thanks for understanding, that’s all I can say.
Blessings of Christmas to you on this day!