❤️🐾🙌☃️⭐🎄Supporting Local Handmade Crafts Every Christmas❤️🐾🙌☃️⭐🎄

I suppose it's like adopting kittens. I get the same eye-roll from @zakludick when I bring home these homemade goods, but he falls in love with them anyway. Sometimes it's better to act and then apologize later rather than asking first 😜 That's terrible marriage advice! Don't listen to me! 🤣

My friends are so creative though! Inspiring too! I might just do something of my own this year. We shall see.

First, there were handmade cloth, felt, mixed media, and personalized advent calendars. I got Matthew's one first and then Aime and Meren were next!

They are just too beautiful and can be filled with whatever candy or chocolate you feel like. It's so much better than cardboard, store-bought Christmas advent calendars which have just become more and more horrifically priced and the chocolates have shrunk too! Besides that, the kids get to keep these calendars, basically forever. This year was the 1st year I actually filled them on time!

Then, my mom's beautifully crafted Christmas tree decorations and Christmas stockings. Each sock is ever so slightly different so that we know which one belongs to who. My mom is in the UK now and I miss her terribly around Christmas, even if she drives me absolutely batty when she is here. But I feel so much closer to her when we hang up these lovely decorations that she put many many hours into making.

My mom is very special when it comes to festive magic. I hope it's genetic and that I am able to create the same level of excitement and pure magic around Christmas by maintaining traditions, like cookie making as a family and celebrating together - appreciating everyone and everything involved.

These Christmas baubles were just too gorgeous to pass up! They too were personalized for me and I had one made for each of us. Not just the kids! Luckily, they're not made out of. I've learned the hard way that glass decorations just don't work in a house with children or pets.

We all ceremonially place our baubles upon the tree and each year a different child gets to put the star or an angel on top of the tree!

Magical Gnomes!
This year, I splurged on myself and bought this gorgeous gnome. His or it's name (gender is unknown really, but despite the pink, it feels like a he)

is Catness Purbles and his magical powers are purrs of healing, to reduce stress, and improve your mood and I guarantee that this is true. When we take down the Christmas decorations, he will become a nightlight for me that will bring me comfort when I can't sleep.
Of course, there are many variations of gnomes, from steampunk to proper forest gnomes and everything in between. This one just spoke to my heart immediately!

And my mom had just given me these firefly lights that I didn't know what to do with. Don't they just look gorgeous on him?

I also bought a ready-made gammon from my friend who runs a catering business. This year, I did not want to end up like I did last year - bedridden and miserable, so I totally took advantage. She makes them every year! Usually, I am so full of crap when it comes to gammon and it goes through like a 3 to four-day process of boiling and then soaking, and then finally roasting and glazing. My poor back can't take that this year! At least I still got to do the glazing bit so I added some leftover cherries from the trifle and peach halves and I just simply used the juice from the peaches as a glaze! Normally I would have added wholegrain mustard as well, but I forgot to buy some. It was still absolutely divine!

The cookies we made this year were definitely a level-up from last ear and previous Easters. We experimented with melted chocolate for the 1st time as I was really tired of royal icing and I actually really wanted to make them delicious - not just pretty. We also experimented with packaging and ribbons and I think we're more experienced now. I just need to figure out pricing and costs, get the right packaging, and become slightly more professional in the decorating process, and they will be ready to sell! I could make them for all special occasions like Easter and Mother's Day. We shall see <3

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cautiva-30 (69) 19 days ago (edited)

All the decorations look very nice, as does the food, as you say, a way to support local craftsmanship, thanks for sharing,
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clairemobey (72) 19 days ago

awww and thank you for taking the time to read my post! Much !Luv

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cautiva-30 (69) 19 days ago

You're welcome, have a Happy New Year

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