Certain Gifts of the Season

I'm so sorry that I haven't posted lately.  It's been more than two months, but I've thinking about my blog a lot, I promise.  See, this writing and posting thing takes quite a bit of time and I just haven't had it lately.  But it's actually a good thing.  A gift, you might say.

My lack of time to blog is due to the recent gift of a job.  Three jobs, actually.  But gifts can be tricky.  They come with obligations.  Don't get me wrong, I am so very grateful, in this season of gratefulness, to have an occupation that earns me some dough in my pocket.  After my summer spree in California I desperately needed to start earning a paycheck again.  I sent dozens of applications and networked with people in environmental education and natural resources.  After weeks of turning up nothing, I secured two half-time positions and some freelance design work in the space of a few days.  But, more about my job situation another time.  The point is that I was suddenly very occupied, so the blog fell by the wayside.  The gift of my jobs required the obligation of my time.  Thus, here we are in December!

And now gifts are on everyone's mind, right?  It's Christmastime and no one can resist the urge to be generous.  So, my spare time as of late has been dedicated to creating and sending gifts.  Given my recent obsession with healthy food and cooking, it seemed appropriate for me to design food gifts this year.  No, my friends and family will not be receiving kale chips or tofu cookies.  You're welcome.  Instead, I compromised with myself to create food that was scrumptious, but was also as healthy as possible.  The brilliance of food gifts is that everyone has to eat!  One of my favorite gift memories from childhood was when we would receive those mixed boxes of pepperidge farms sausages, cheeses, and crackers.  I loved the tiny packaging.

My gifts this year capitalize on the allure of chocolate, dark chocolate.  Who doesn't love that?

Dark Chocolate Bark with Coconut and Crystallized Ginger….so yummy and easy!

I threw some salty nuts in there to balance the sweetness.  With home-ground spices, I might add.

Grinding spices for Garam Masala…this is where the love comes in.

The message I'm trying to send here is that I prefer the heartfelt over the "hot and trendy"; the homemade over the store-bought; the affordable over the non-returnable.  Being generous doesn't have to mean spending a wad of cash.  However, I do live in Alaska, which means that shipping my lovely food items to friends and family outside probably costs more than making them.  But, that's just the way it is.

Please don't think I'm preaching some kind of gift-giving purity here, because I'll have you know that I also bought a certain "hot and trendy" electronic item for my own son this year.  And I bought a totally senseless gadget for my husband.  But I know these items will bring amusement and enjoyment to them.  Besides, they get my homemade-from-the-heart meals every day (plus, I saved extra homemade chocolate bark and nuts to tide us over during the holiday break, too).

Someone was taste-testing.

There is tons more that I've been up to in the last two months that I wish I'd shared: attending Palmer's Winter Farmers Market at the train depot on Monday's, sledding down the icy driveway at night with my boys, watching moose eat our Halloween pumpkin and raspberry bushes, cooking up Julia Child's boeuf bourguignon, or making homemade sushi.  My life is full of gifts!

Here's wishing that yours is, too.

Returning the Gift

A few weeks back, I posted some pictures of a wonderfully recycled gift sent to me by my sister-in-law in California.  I vowed to return the favor with a handmade gift of my own.  And so I have.

The locket-thingy I made from a sea shell.

I admit to feeling that my gift does not measure up to the original token, nor to my initial inspiration.  Long ago, on a visit to the artsy coastal town of Homer, Alaska, I saw an opened clam shell made into a sweet little book.  The shell acted as the cover with tiny pages delicately situated in between.  I set out to make such a trinket and found my skills put to the challenge.  After several minutes of blankly staring at my materials, my son commented, "Mom, it looks like a locket."  I blinked out of my stupor and realized what a brilliant vision he'd had.  My shells, collected from another Alaskan coastal hamlet earlier in the spring, were much smaller than the one made into a book.  But they were the perfect size for a locket-style ornament.  And so I delved into this new vision, choosing to use only materials I already had, just like my dear sister-in-law had done.

The many-layered edge.

I found bits of shiny ribbon, leftover beads, a shell with a hole in it, and even a few downy Mallard feathers near our backyard bog.  I embellished with supplies from my past scrap-booking days: ink, stamps, embossing powder, and some copper tape.  And luckily I found some good photos that I was able to alter and print at just the right size to fit the "locket."  All was not smooth sailing, however.  I melted my original ribbon while heating the embossing powder and had to replace it with a darker colored one.  I didn't like the edge created by the copper tape, which also had a hard time sticking, and so put the embossed walnut ink around the photos to soften them.  But that didn't strike my fancy either, so I then covered the edge with some melted bees wax I found at the bottom of my craft basket.  At one point I accidentally dropped the locket and broke the delicate natural hinge between the two halves of the shell, so I had to reinforce it with more copper tape!

When I held the finished product in my hand, I felt satisfied to have created something from the materials I had on hand and the time I allowed myself.  But I then started to doubt myself.   What is she supposed to do with this?  Will she like it?  Will it break when someone touches it? Why didn't I use her favorite colors?  But, in spite of these nagging questions, I put the trinket into the box she sent to me (including the orange tissue paper used to wrap my gift) and mailed it to her.  I also included three name plates (for her and her daughters) made with library book cards and branded with encouraging quotes on the back.  They were an extra bit of something I hoped would make up for the smallness of the locket.  However, I sent the package in such haste that I forgot to write her a letter explaining my craftiness and its intention.  So, here I am making up for that.

Kaylene, I hope you have found some place to put the locket and the name plates and that they do not simply add clutter to your newly un-cluttered abode.  Though my first crafty act was feeble, I will try, try again.  I have always wanted to have someone to exchange such folksy gifts with.  I'm all for wearing out the little box with its orange tissue paper as it travels 3000 miles each way, carrying whatever meaningful nonsense we choose to put in it. 

A Gift for Recycling

My amazing gift of recycled materials.

A couple weeks ago I received a small, light-weight box in the mail from my sister-in-law in Redding, California.  I was not expecting anything from her, so I was anxious to open the package and see what it was.  Inside, under some orange tissue paper, I discovered a paper-crafting masterpiece.  It was a postcard sized booklet nearly 6 inches thick and overflowing with crafty paraphernalia.  The accompanying letter explained that every bit of material in the gift was recycled from scraps of paper or found materials.  She knew I had a penchant for reducing, reusing, and recycling, so she vowed to not use any supplies newer than one year old.

As I poured through each elaborately designed page I found myself marveling at her ingenuity and attention to detail.  Each page had a unique color scheme and something tucked, folded, fastened, or hinged.  There were photographs of myself and my family attached to plastic bread bag tabs, tin can lids, and other found objects I couldn't identify.  Her artistry showed in every detail, as did her thoughtfulness to elements she knew I would enjoy: places to journal, earthy colors, objects from nature, and an overall rustic aesthetic quality.  I was quite touched that she would create such a personal gift for me, based on a principle she knew I valued, which she adhered to so diligently (probably even more so than I would have).  She even resisted the urge to purchase a special pen that would write on the plastic pages she made by melting grocery bags together, although the temptation led her all the way to the craft store and nearly to the cash register with pen in hand!

I have never received such a gift before.  I have been given flowers once or twice, framed photographs a few times, a trip to Mexico, even (thanks honey!).  But never have I gotten such an unexpected, unsolicited, and meaningful gift as this.  It is even more poignant because I received it during a moment in my life when I could really use some cheering up.  It was a salve for the low-point I was experiencing at that time.  It made me feel special, and loved, and like someone really knew who I was and loved me for it.  And the great thing is that I will feel that way every time I look at my gift.  It is precious to me.

This gift has reminded me of when I used to give out such unexpected and personal tokens.  I have fallen away from this rewarding habit in the past several years, but I think it's time to renew it.  I have been inspired to spread the joy that I have received.  And I think handmade treasures are one of the best ways to bestow such joy.  I plan to start with my magnificent sister-in-law.

Thank you so much, Kaylene.

Handmade Christmas

I admit it; this year was not completely a handmade Christmas.  I succumbed to the shopping bug and bought most of my gifts for people this year.  It wasn't a proud moment, especially given than most of that shopping occurred the week before Christmas.  On principle, however, I steered clear of electronics and opted for books, food, socks, and soap.  You just can't go wrong with practical items!
As for the handmade part of Christmas, I can only take credit for some of the ideas.  Every year we make a donation to Heifer International, a fabulous charity that fights poverty through sustainable agriculture all over the world.  Another tradition is a mixed music CD for my husband, a total music nut, which requires hours of research on my part to find new artists I think he'll like.  This is great fun for both of us and one of the highlights for my man on Christmas morning.  Invariably, the CD gets played so often during the following week that we all know the songs by heart and have chosen our favorites. 

Cookie making, baking, and creative snacking are a favorite holiday pastime, especially when the weather outside is frigid, dark, and inhospitable (usually mid-November through February).  This year I also purchased a large block of clay I found at the craft store.  My son and his cousins carved off chunks of squishy gray dough with some dental floss and made an assortment of impromptu gifts just a couple days before Christmas.  We also made Holiday wreaths with spruce cones, tree mushrooms, and moss glued to paper plates.  If you try the wreath idea, just know that closed cones will open upon drying and may distort your paper plate into a convex shape to make room.

My other favorite part of Christmas is socializing.  At a craft party, thrown by a friend, my son and I collaborated on a folksy Santa and an ingenious Christmas card holder made with beads and wine corks.  The crafts were great, but the company, the food, and the opportunity to while away a festive afternoon was the best gift by far.  For me, the holidays mean that my husband will be home a little more, the house will twinkle with colored lights, and I'll have an excuse to show my favorite people how much I love them with a few thoughtful gifts.  And if those gifts can be made by my own two hands, or a little ingenuity, then that's even better.