Monday, December 26, 2011

A Homemade Christmas

Did you all have a wonderful Christmas? I hope so. We did and the kids are now busy playing with their new toys. Since Christmas is over I finally get to show you two of the presents that I have been wanting to show you for a long time.

For my SIL and her husband we gave her a month of dates in a box.
(one of the boxes)

For the grandma's I made them each a sign like this one.
(The sign I made for my MIL)

I will tell you in more detail all about these gifts in the next couple of weeks.

All the recipients loved their gifts and the grandma signs brought tears to both grandma's eyes.

This is not the first time I have made people cry at Christmas.

When I was probably about 8, I decided I wanted to make presents for everyone in my family. But I did not want to tell anyone as that would ruin the surprise. I quietly gathered the materials, random pieces of scrap-wood, some paint and brushes and began.

First in my childish writing I painted a sign for my mom "I love you Mother" I believe it said. A second sign with "#1 Sister" for my older sister. But then, well my inability to spell kicked in.

For my brother - "#1 Bother" - the r accidentally left out.
For my other brother was "A genisus" (genius)

And my dad, well I didn't just paint a sign for him, I free hand stitched on a piece of scrap material a picture of a desk and then this saying, it looked quite a bit like this:
This time the placement of words and lack of punctuation leading to everyone's laughter as after my other follies they of course read it as "busy butt".

They tried desperately not to laugh knowing my intentions were good, but the laughter and the tears did come.

And yes, it is still brought up to this day.

Luckily my skills have greatly increased and there was the invention of something life saving for me, nothing other than spell checker.

Have you had a homemade disaster?

******************
The last Tuesday of the month is usually my Ten Things to Smile About Meme- however, due to the Review Extravaganza in progress (still time to link up) I will be doing my Ten Things Meme NEXT Tuesday.

28 comments:

  1. This is cracking me up!! So funny!

    And yes, your gifts this year were PERFECT! Can't wait for our dates! Thx again!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I am laughing out loud - those signs have to bring back such fun memories when you family gets together!!

    Love the gifts you made this year - they are soooo creative!!

    Glad you had a wonderful Christmas!

    ReplyDelete
  3. You know I remember making something for Tracy once when I was little and spelling his name Tarcy. Everyone laughed of course because it was "cute", I of course, was mortified for ruining his name. I do not remember what I made.

    I love the date in the box idea! Super cute.

    You are in....hmmm am I good or "bad" company? As I am a horrible speller too! :P

    ReplyDelete
  4. Wow! You are the crafting genius. How thoughtful to make gifts for people. :)

    ReplyDelete
  5. Merry Christmas to you and your family! (a little late) I WISH I could get my creativity together in time for Christmas :)

    ReplyDelete
  6. This is just adorable! I love the 8 year old you - such awesome intentions and creativity!!

    ReplyDelete
  7. I seriously love that grandkids sign! I need to pin this (or, if you do a how-to post) and make them, too! And that date-in-a-box is awesome!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Holy cow... those are such GREAT ideas!!!

    ReplyDelete
  9. OOoh, I ADORE the grandkids sign...that is super cute!!

    ReplyDelete
  10. What super sweet gifts! I love the story that follows, so thoughtful but funny. My cousins and I tried to make things our of yarn for their new brother or sister when I was younger it was a hot mess of jumbled yarn but it is the thought that counts, right? LOL!

    ReplyDelete
  11. The grandparents gift is soooo cute!

    In response to one of your comments on my blog about our view...

    "You were possibly looking at the wrong aspects of the view...or not. To each his own. We love the mountains, Bluest of blue skies, and rolling hills where you can see for miles...not the apartment building if that is what you thought we meant. Or...I suppose you could have meant to put an exclamation point and not a question mark, lol"

    --Sandy :-)

    ReplyDelete
  12. LOVE the grandkids sign! The date in a box sounds perfect for my older kids...I would love to see some of them date.
    Sandy

    ReplyDelete
  13. Those signs are awesome!
    The Bother one was probably very perfect.

    All my gifts that I gave this year were homemade.
    I hope the family liked them.

    ReplyDelete
  14. You are the daughter in law to beat!! I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the Grand kIds signs you made. Lucky In Laws!!

    ReplyDelete
  15. I love the Grandkids sign! That is really beautiful.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Those are great! We did a little crafting this year as well. Mama broke out the paint and canvases. The girls (23 months) were free to pick their own colors and go to town. Each session was done in diapers only, and followed quickly by a bath.

    Needless to say, everyone loved their artwork!

    ReplyDelete
  17. Every time I do something homemade it is a disaster! Good for you for making these great gifts:)

    ReplyDelete
  18. I totally just pinned that grandkids sign. It will be great for mother's day.

    ReplyDelete
  19. LOVE that grandkids sign!! It is so cute!!
    Haha...#1 bother...he probably was a bother and that was your subconscious kicking in ;)
    Hope you had a very Merry Christmas!
    XO

    ReplyDelete
  20. I love the idea of a month worth of dates!! How wonderful!! I might have to steal that idea for next year. The other stuff is fantastic too!

    Hope you had the merriest of Christmases and wishing you a wonderful 2012!

    ReplyDelete
  21. That is precious! How adorable.

    Ok, so I need you to make me one of those grandkid signs please. Go ahead and send me the paypal slip. (Except she only has 3 grandkids RIGHT NOW). Maybe you could add one more? I'm hopeful that there will be one more to add.

    ReplyDelete
  22. I found the same thing on pinterest and love that you created it! It looks great! And I love the date in a box, what an original idea!

    ReplyDelete
  23. Everything I make at home is a disaster...
    So you should totally do a cross stitch for your dad like what you did when you were 8, again! Bet he'd love it even if he is a busy butt!

    ReplyDelete
  24. PS totally pinning that grandkid sign. I need to make that.

    ReplyDelete

ShareThis