Christmas Gift Ideas

Running out of ideas for what to give this year?  Here is a list for when you are stuck: 

·         Fleece Throws

·         Throw Pillows

·         Dish Towels, Potholders & Cloths

·         Placemats & Cloth Napkins

·         Table Runners

·         Fleece Hats & Scarves

·         Knitted/Crocheted Hats & Scarves

·         Doll Clothes

·         Doll Accessories

·         Slippers – Fleece, knitted or crocheted

·         Note Cards & Stationery

·         Personalized Calendars

·         Personal 2012 Planner

·         Coupon Organizer

·         Bill Paying Organizer

·         Greeting Card Organizer

·         Photo Boxes

·         Address Book

·         Handmade Return Address Labels

·         Photo Album

·         Photo Frames

·         Scrapbooking Supplies

·         Candles & Candle Holders

·         Christmas Ornaments

·         Book & Bookmark

·         Cookbooks

·         Recipe Cards & Box

·         Bath Sets – Shower gel, lotion, bubble bath, bath salts

·         Hair Accessories

·         Hair Brush & Comb

·         Pancake Mix & Syrup

·         Gourmet Cookies – bakery or homemade

·         Fudge & Candy

·         Truffles

·         Jams & Jellies

·         Apple or Pear Butters

·         Coffee or Cocoa Mix in a Jar

·         Pound Cakes

·         Assorted Breads or Muffins

·         Pie Baked in a Vintage Pie Plate

·         Cake Pan(s) with Cake Mixes or Recipes

·         Muffin Pan with Muffin Mixes or Recipes

·         S’mores Kit – Graham crackers, marshmallows, chocolate bars

·         Movie Kit – DVD, microwave popcorn, 2 liter soda

·         Art Set – Drawing pad, pencils, pastel crayons

·         Bead Kit – beads, needles, elastic thread, cording

·         Cross Stitch Sampler & Floss

·         Crochet Hook & Yarn

·         Knitting Loom(s) & Yarn

·         Manicure Set – Polish, remover, emery board, cotton balls

·         Framed Photographs

·         Idea Books

·         How-To Books – Knitting, crochet, embroidery, crafts, sewing, decorating

·         Music CDs

·         $10 Starbucks Gift Card in a Mug

·         Puzzles

·         Coloring Books & Crayons

·         Match Box Cars 

You can be as simple or fancy with your gifts as you like.  Many can be handmade or store bought depending on how much time and funds you have available.  Check the dollar store for items to help keep you on budget.  Hope this helps!

Easy Lemon Pound Cake

I have yet to master a lemon cake recipe that truly knocks my socks off and I love lemon cake.  So, despite my desire to bake everything from scratch, there comes a time when you have to accept your limitations.  In the case of lemon cake I buy a mix.  As a result, several years ago, I happened to buy a box of cake mix once that had a lemon pound cake recipe on the back.  I tried it and have used it ever since and in a variety of ways too. 

The recipe is super simple: 

Lemon Poundcake 

1 lemon cake mix

4 eggs

1 c water

1/3 c canola oil 

Pre heat oven to 350°.  In a medium sized mixing bowl combine all ingredients and whisk until batter is smooth, no lumps.  Pour batter into a buttered and floured bundt pan or two bread loaf pans.  Bake for 50 to 60 minutes until cake is done.  The top should spring back to the touch. 

Allow cake to cool 10 minutes and then remove from pan to a cooling rack.  Cake should cool completely before slicing.  Serve plain or with berries and whipped cream. 

I have found I can make variations of this cake with other flavored cake mixes: 

Pound Cake – use a yellow cake mix, add 1 tsp. vanilla.  Bake in loaf pan and slice for strawberry shortcake. 

Chocolate Pound Cake – use a chocolate fudge cake mix.  Goes great with raspberries! 

Gift Idea:  Use smaller mini loaf pans.  Reduce baking time to 30 to 40 minutes depending on pan size.  After cakes have cooled wrap in plastic wrap and then in aluminum foil.  Wrap a strip of bright flat ribbon lengthwise down the center of each cake and secure with a small piece of tape.  Make a decorative label Lemon Pound Cake and place across the center of the cake. 

One Christmas I made three different flavors of batter and baked them in mini pans.  I wrapped them as I have described above and set three different cakes in a basket to give as my gifts to my neighbors.  My next door neighbor still talks about that, she really loved the chocolate cake. 

Give this a try next time you need a delicious and simple dessert.  I think you will really like it.

Tip:  For added savings wait for cake mixes to go on sale and stock up.  Use coupons with sales items for additional savings.

Use It Up – Bacon Drippings

I’m sure I’ll have a few critics on this one but I save and re-use my bacon fat. 

We don’t eat bacon very often but when we do I save the pan drippings.  I keep a glass mason jar in my refrigerator and add to it every time I cook bacon.  All of my grandmothers saved their drippings and so do I.  I love the flavor it gives to the foods I cook with it.  In particular, my refried beans.  I fry them in bacon fat and they are delicious!  I also will cook my lean pork sausage with a little of it when I make biscuits and gravy.  I add a little of it to my oil when I make pork fried rice. 

In moderation, using bacon fat when cooking is a good thing and adds wonderful flavor to your dish.  Give it a try, if you don’t already, and remember to save your drippings.  If it is good enough for Emeril it is good enough for me!  BAM!

Gift Wrapping

It is so easy to drop a small fortune on gift wrapping supplies.  I’d rather spend that money on the gifts, quite frankly.  Because of that I try to spend as little on gift wrap as I possibly can. 

About once every two or three years I “splurge” and buy a roll of Christmas wrap at the dollar store.  I pick up my sticky bows on clearance after Christmas.  I usually buy at least two bags so I have enough for all the other gift giving occasions throughout the year.  Throughout the year I will also pick up spools of curling ribbon, flat ribbon and wired ribbon as I come across them at thrift stores for a fraction of their original price.  This summer I picked up three brand new rolls for just $1. 

I like to re-use the nicer gift wrap, gift boxes, tissue, gift bags and bows I’ve saved from prior years.  I almost never buy gift bags.  I make my own gift tags too. 

That doesn’t mean my gifts look don’t beautiful because they do.  It is very important to me that my gifts look really pretty.  Using a little creativity you can make all kinds of things into gift wrap. 

One of my favorite things to do is use brown paper grocery bags.  I cut them along one edge and along the bottom edge to completely remove the bottom of the bag and so it lays flat.  I use packing tape to wrap the gift with because it sticks to the paper better than regular Scotch tape does.  Then I use bright red ribbon and bows for decoration, finish it with a handmade gift tag and quite often I add a tree ornament as well.  It turns out super cute. 

A fun project for children is to color on or stamp paper bags to decorate them.  They could use stickers too.  Let them make their own gift wrap to use on the gifts they are giving this year. 

Colored tissue wrap makes nice gift wrap too.  Use three to four pieces to wrap a larger gift so you can’t see through it.  For smaller gifts use two sheets and then fold it in half for the right thickness. 

My grandmother used to use aluminum foil when she ran low on gift wrap.  I will sometimes borrow her idea for smaller gifts like CDs or DVDs, jewelry or a book.  I wrap the gift with the shiny side out and add red or blue ribbons and bows.  It is a really neat look. 

Other ideas include butcher or freezer paper (waxed side in), construction paper, copy paper and leftover wallpaper.  With wallpaper you will want to use packing tape too so it sticks better. 

I watched a video once on YouTube that showed you how to take a scarf or fabric square and wrap and tie it around a gift so that it wraps it and makes its own bow.  I’ve also seen a bandana used in a magazine article.  Cute ideas, although to this day, I’ve never tried them. 

I also love the idea of having one solid color of paper to use for all gifts and dressing it up with the ribbons and bows.  You could purchase one of those rolls of drawing paper for a child’s art table to use for this purpose. 

Try a little creativity this year and see what happens.

Knitting Looms

If you happen to be somewhat crafty or have someone crafty on your gift list you might want to consider knitting looms.  I love knitting looms because they make for really quick projects and almost anyone can do this.

Looms come in a variety of shapes and sizes to make hats, scarves, afghans, baby blankets, sweaters, ponchos, shawls, bags and purses, even socks.  There are books available with easy to follow instructions.  You can also save the expense of the books and find project instructions online for free.  Check out knittingpatterncentral.com.

I am not a great knitter at all.  I struggle reading patterns and lack the patience to sit and figure them out so something straight forward and easy works better for me.  And because looming projects go fast I can complete my projects quickly which really works well with a busy schedule. 

We have a set of round looms and a set of the rectangle looms.  Between us three girls there are plenty of them for each of us to work on a project at the same time. 

You can find Looms at WalMart, JoAnn Fabrics (in store or online), eBay, Amazon.com just to name a few places.  I’ve found them online at eBay for a variety of prices but I usually can pick up a set for around $10 - $15.  If you could fine them at a thrift store I imagine they would be even less. 

One of my favorite projects is to make a hat and matching scarf in the recipients favorite sports team colors.  I can usually finish the hat in one evening and the scarf in another. 

If you have never tried looming and have always wanted to knit give it a try.  It is fun, simple and you can knock out a bunch of really neat gifts in a couple of evenings. 

Gift Idea:  Set of looms, 2 skeins of yarn, project instructions printed off the internet.

Christmas Gift Ideas – Teachers

No one deserves a little something at the holidays quite like a teacher.  Their job is tough and it takes a special person to be a good teacher.  Christmas is an excellent time to let them know they are special. 

My girls have been blessed by a lot of really great teachers over the years.  So at Christmas time we don’t just give gifts to their current teacher but to their past teachers as well.  One could blow the budget right there but we stay it on track by keeping it simple and making something ourselves, usually a food gift. 

This year we are making Snowman Candy Bars. 

You will need: 

·         Regular size Hershey milk chocolate candy bars (as many as you need)

·         Plain white copy paper

·         Scissors

·         Scotch tape

·         School glue (of course)

·         Felt tip markers

·         Scraps of colored paper, ribbon, trim, and/or fabric

·         Pom poms (optional) 

Cut each sheet of paper in half and then trim each half to 6 inches (5½” X 6”).  In the center, draw on a snowman face near the top and three buttons where the tummy would be.  Wrap the strip around the candy bar and tape in the back to secure.  To add a little dimension cut a hat shape from the colored paper and glue at the top above the face.  Make a scarf from paper, fabric or trim and wrap around securing with a dot of glue.  Or cut a bowtie.  Use a pom pom for a nose or a triangle of orange paper and glue in place. 

You can make miniature snow men two with pieces of paper trimmed to 2 ¼” X 4” and following the same directions.  I use a red felt tip marker to make the noses and the pom poms to adorn the hats.  We are using these for the girls to give to their friends. 

They go together quickly and easily.  Make a gift tag for your child to fill out and attach.

Easy Apple Butter

Have a big bowl or a bag of apples starting to go soft?  Don’t really want to make another pie or a crisp?  Before they head to the compost bin try making some super simple apple butter.  It makes a great gift! 

My apple butter starts out a lot like my applesauce.  I fill my medium sized slow cooker with chopped apples, add a ½ cup of water and let it cook down on high until is it the consistency of smooth applesauce.  It takes about 4 hours.  If your apples get super thick add a little more water to loosen it up, you want an applesauce consistency.  Use a potato masher to break up any large apple pieces. 

Then add 3 cups of sugar, 1 Tbs. cinnamon, 1/2 tsp. nutmeg, 1/2 tsp clove and ½ tsp salt.  Cook another 2 hours, stirring every 30 minutes.  Taste it and adjust spice to your liking.  Pour into sterilized half-pint jars top with lids and process in a hot water bath for 15 minutes.  Makes about 9 jars. 

Spread on toast, waffles or pancakes, biscuits, warm butter rolls or place a dollop on your oatmeal.