If you haven’t already figured it out, I am really in love with handmade gifts.  I love making them, almost as much as I love giving and receiving them.   I’m always trying to get my kids just as hyped up about this too, so each year my kids make a gift for Mommy and Daddy, and one for their grandparents.  My husband and I also each make gifts for the kids as well.  Fair is fair.  Here is what is on our to do list this year.  The kids and I are making Daddy ornaments.  Pretzel frame ornaments.

I snapped a photo of each of the kids holding a sign saying “Merry Christmas Daddy 2011.”  We got them printed out and then cut them into a circle.  Next we will glue little pretzels around the photo in the shape of a frame, to both the front and the back.  Finish it off with some ribbon in order to hang it on the tree and it’s done!  For me, the kids and Daddy will be getting together to hand paint a cooking apron for me.  I have an old white baking apron that they snuck away without my knowing and are planning on using fabric paint on it.  Sneaky aren’t they?  I can’t wait to see what they will end up putting on it.

I am most excited about the grandparent gift this year however.  They are making “All About Me” books.  In each book my daughter will write facts about herself and her brothers.  Things like, “My name is Maddie.  I love the color purple.  My favorite food is pizza.  My favorite toy is Love-a-lot Bear.”  That is verbatim from her book.  Then she will draw pictures that illustrate whatever she wrote.  She is doing the writing for her brothers, but we are letting them do their own pictures.  Okay, so my four month old isn’t doing his own pictures exactly, but I plan to use hand and foot prints instead.  Once everything is put together I’m going to take the books to Kinkos and get copies made of them, one for each set of grandparents.  The original will be filed away here at my house.  My first grader gets to practice her sentence building, and writing.  She and her two year old brother get to enjoy drawing all the pictures, and the grandparents get a cute little book made by their grandkids.  Who wouldn’t love that?

-Stephanie Wright