A Homemade Christmas

Last year I decided that I was tired of buying presents for my kids that would break or get lost within days. So, the past two years I have handmade all my gifts for my kids as well as for everyone else on my list. Although it took A LOT of time and the week before Christmas I swore this was the last year I am happy with the way everything turned out.  I think I will still do it next year, but aim to have everything made before Thanksgiving. That way I can enjoy the holidays without so many projects on my list. I failed to take pictures of many of the things that I made, but here are a few...

This was actually pre Christmas, but I made it so I'm counting it :)

A more delicious version (a caramel, chocolate, toffee version) of an apple for the teacher. 

These were a big hit.

A calendar/menu planner that I copied from "A Girl and a Glue Gun." I actually made four, but this is the only picture I have. By the way, I want be Kim from that blog, she is amazing.

The chocolates (this is only the bottom layer of the box)

A desk for the car. Paul's is blue. To be fair, only the idea of this (and not even this final version) was mine. The majority of the credit goes to my amazing father-in-law who built these for the kids. It is already a huge hit with Samantha.

There were also a variety of small toys that were quick and simple, other smaller gifts that I cannot remember at the moment, calendars (with the help of snapfish.com and mixbook.com), and a book for my mom and dad with letters and pictures from each of their kids and grand kids. All the work paid off and I felt like the presents were a success and definitely more meaningful.