Quote of the Day: Harlan Miller
I wish we could put up some of the Christmas spirit in jars and open a jar of it every month.
~Harlan Miller
I’m sad to see Christmas has come and gone. We had to work on Saturday so we didn’t get to enjoy our usual day after Christmas traditions. We did take part of yesterday off though to relax and take in a little more of the season. I think one of the things I love this time of year is the peacefulness of it. Even though we’re still very busy this time of year, it seems easier to take time off here and there for family celebrations and for ourselves.
What part of the holidays would you jar up for the rest of the year?
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The Day After
I hope all of you who celebrate had a wonderful Christmas yesterday! Mr Chiots and I keep Christmas Day for ourselves, just us two, it’s our family day. For the past 8 years we’ve watched vintage James Bond movies all day. We usually get up and have a big breakfast, yesterday we had french toast. We celebrated by having an extra cup of coffee! We decided to play some video games instead of watching Bond. I’m sure most people don’t think of me as a video game player, but I spent the afternoon with Mr Chiots playing Diablo II. My video game self is much different than my real self, I’m currently a level 34 Barbarian, I wield a maul instead of a shovel.
We finished the evening off with dinner and a movie. Dinner was a delicious local meal of venison pot roast, from Mr Chiot’s own deer, with potatoes from the garden, carrots and onions from the farmer’s market. The movie was The Soloist, which was great. We enjoyed a simple day at home and it was lovely.
How did you spend Christmas day?
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Merry Christmas From Chiot’s Run
Since I don’t have all your addresses and mailing out cards to everyone that read would cost a fortune, I’m sending out Christmas Wishes to all of you on my blog. Here’s the card we sent out the family & friends this year. I bought a few cookie cutters from Cincinnati Cake & Candy Supplies and baked up a batch of sweetness for our cards. After a few hours of baking (and eating cookies) we snapped a few photos and our Christmas postcard was off to the printers. I would tell you where we got them printed, but since I wasn’t too happy with their service, no blog love for them.
We got our cards finished a little later than usual. We were waiting for snow so we could make a short Christmas movie card (since that’s what we do), but we got no snow. So we had to make up a card late in the season.
Merry Christmas from all of us here at Chiot’s Run!
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Handmade Gifts: Doll Bedding
My sister found this great doll bed at a garage sale this summer. She was planning on giving it to the girls for Christmas and asked if I’d make bedding for it for it. I had a great time at the fabric store picking out the perfect fabric. I picked out some bright colorful fabric that I thought the girls would love.
I found a remnant of black-out fabric that I used for the mattresses (it feels like the plasticky kid mattress fabric). I used an old pillow for filling the mattresses and the pillows.
The sheets were made fitted so they could be taken off and washed easily, as were the pillowcases.
Mr Chiots made afghans to go on the beds, he learned to knit just for this project. I made little tags that said, “Handmade with love by Uncle Brian” with a few photos. The girls were thrilled that he had made them. I almost forgot to get these photos, if you notice he’s on the last row of this blanket finishing it off.
He even made them in a striped pattern to match. I think he did a great job on the pattern! Now they’re dolls can sleep all cozy warm in their new flannel bedding.
My sister told me that on they way home my oldest niece told her that her doll bed was one of her favorite gifts. When I was young my dad & mom made us this big doll house. My dad built the house and my mom made lots of the decor. She even made framed art from magazine photos. It was on wheels so my sister and I wheeled in all over our house and played with it all the time. We loved it!
Do have a specific homemade gift that you remember as a kid?
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Handmade Gifts: Superhero Cape for Kids
My little nephew Orin requested a superhero cape for Christmas. Since I’m the crafty aunt, my sister asked if I’d be willing to make one for him. These are the kinds of gifts I love to make, it’s so much fun picking out fabrics, trying to figure out the perfect design, and adding those little touches that set it apart from a store bought item. I decided that a proper superhero should have not one, but two identities. So I made his cape reversible, so he could be super blue or super red.
One of the reasons I like making gifts instead of buying them is because they can be personalized. His favorite colors are red and blue and I decided he couldn’t be a random superhero. So I included his name on the back -BAM-.
It’s cut out of felt and stitched on, I know this cape will be getting lots of wear and tear since he’s an active little boy. I figured gluing wouldn’t last long enough, and beside stitching allowed me to add a little extra -ZOW- by stitching it on it a different colored thread.
The stitching around the edge is also alternating colors, the thread is blue on the red side and red on the blue side.
And since a superhero isn’t complete without a mask -POW- I made a mask and laser wristlets (which are also reversible).
Since we celebrated our family Christmas yesterday, Orin got his gift. Mr Chiots got this great photo of him seeing himself in his costume. This cape and mask will go beautifully with the wooden sword and shield his sisters made him for Christmas.
I spent about $5-$6 total on this gift and it took me about an hour to make. Mr Chiots has fond memories of his superhero cape as a kid, I’m sure Orin will have the same great memories. My favorite toy as a kid was a weaving loom, I made all kinds of wonderful things with it.
What was your favorite toy as a child?
