Work gifts

Peter came home one evening before Christmas and mentioned that he thought he should give gifts to everyone in his department (13 people!).  Now, if he had come to me a month or even a week before the day that he wanted to distribute the gifts, I might have been able to send him in with some yummy baked goods or some fancy cheese and jams/jellies from our CSA.  However, he told me the night before.  I wanted to do something creative and thoughtful, despite the facebook suggestions that cold, hard cash was the way to go.  Also, we didn't budget for 13 gifts so I was trying to do something substantial on a shoestring budget.  Here's what I came up with:

Emergency Snack Pack

Contents on the lightweight metal trays (purchased from Joann on clearance with a coupon) included the following:

• Mini water bottles
• Granola bars
• Chips
• Microwave popcorn
• Nuts
• Gum
• Hershey's kisses
• Ghirardelli chocolates

We wrapped each tray with plastic wrap (I love my Costco plastic wrap!) and taped a piece of wired ribbon around each pack.  I tied the cards on with a twist-tie.  

I never heard much feedback on if people liked the packs but I had a good time making them and would have loved seeing Peter carry all 13 of them in to his office!

Christmas program and parties

It's been a busy day in the Hamilton Household and it's only 3pm!  I hope it slows down a little bit this evening!  This morning, we were up and moving fairly early so that we could all get ready before go time.  We took Alexander to the bus stop and I rushed around trying not to look like I needed Xanax.  We made it to Otter Creek with five minutes to spare and I was even able to secure a decent spot to watch the program.  There were so many people there!  I was actually shocked to see so many people there.  Not that it's not cute to see your kids on stage, I just didn't expect it to be standing room only for the 3-year-olds to half sing cute Christmas songs.  Anyway, my seat wasn't good enough to get any great pictures of Charlotte on stage (she looked a bit shell shocked anyway).  I did get some good pictures of her running right up to Santa and jumping in his lap.  Um, HELLO???  When we made a special trip to see Santa you couldn't run AWAY fast enough but today?  She was nearly first in line and asked for a pink train.  Santa's going to have to run back to the North Pole quickly to get that pink train 'made'.

After Charlotte's party, we had a little downtime so we went home and relaxed for a few minutes.  Then, we got back in the car and headed over to Glendale for Alexander's Christmas Holiday Winter party.  I can't take any credit for this great party; the mom in charge decided that the kids should do something for someone else instead of collecting another goody bag for themselves.  So, the kids decorated and filled a bag with goodies like toothbrushes, playing cards, toys, kleenex, stickers, pens/pencils, and more to give to families who are staying at the local Ronald McDonald House.  They each wrote a note to the kids and were able to choose the goodies to put in the bags.  It was a fun way for them to give at this time of the year where there seems to be a lot of 'getting'.  Don't worry, it wasn't all serious; the kids also decorated sugar cookies (and ate them), and listened to a story about a dog named Christmas (a true story told by Zoe's Dad).  

Choosing a toy to add to his Ronald McDonald bag.

Starting to write his letter (we need to work on the handwriting!)

After all of the fun, we let Mrs. Sanabria open her gifts and I think she was overwhelmed!  She kept saying, "Oh my goodness!"  I think that the kids and she will be excited to listen to music without commercials.

Mrs. Sanabria opening the iPod pouch that I made for her

All I want for Christmas...

Is my two front teeth!!!

Yesterday, Alexander came home from school with a tooth necklace around his neck.  In it?  Not just one, but TWO front teeth.  He finally wiggled, twisted, and pulled them out and he's working on all of his 'S' words and even said, "Sister susie sitting on a thistle."  The S-sound is a bit of a challenge but he's already sounding better so I think he'll get used to it quickly!  What a cute tooth-less grin!

Teacher Gifts

I didn't go wild and crazy on teacher gifts this year because my hubby told me to reign in my Christmas budget.  He's the accountant and the one with the level head so I figured that I better behave.  I did want to do something for them, though, so I decided to sew something with some scrap fabric and make some homemade hot chocolate mix using ingredients from the grocery store.

First things first, Alexander's class raised enough money through all of the parents to buy Mrs. Sanabria an Ipod touch, speakers, and an iTunes gift card.  I know that she and the kids will enjoy listening to multi-cultural music in class (and she can enjoy it during her off time, too)!  So, I decided to make a little carry pouch for the Ipod and I used this very well written tutorial.  I did make mine about 3/8" bigger all the way around so that I would be sure that there would be enough room in it.  I tested it out using my iPhone but I'm pretty sure that the shape has completely changed since I got my phone over two years ago (Wow, I think it's time to upgrade).  Crossing my fingers that it fits!  Alexander's teacher is WAY into owls, or at least that's what we've been told, so I used some cute owl fabric from a jumper that I made for Charlotte (Check out the jumper here.) Here are a couple pics of the new pouch!  

Charlotte has a teacher and a teacher assistant so I had to come up with two things to give at her school.  I made some hot chocolate mix with the following recipe:

Homemade Hot Cocoa Mix

Yield: About 20 servings

Prep Time: 10 minutes

3 cups nonfat dry milk powder
2 cups powdered sugar
1½ cups cocoa powder (Dutch-processed preferred, but regular okay)
1½ cups white chocolate chips (or chopped white chocolate)
¼ teaspoon salt

1. Whisk together all ingredients in a large bowl. Working in two batches, pulse the ingredients in a food processor until the chocolate is finely ground. Store in an airtight container for up to 3 months.

2. To make hot cocoa, put 1/3 cup of the cocoa mix in a mug and stir in 1 cup of hot milk. Top with whipped cream or miniature marshmallows.

(Recipe adapted from Cook’s Country)

I found a little basket, a pretty mug, a homemade (not by me) candycane, and some marshmallows and came up with a sweet little present!

Tomorrow, I hope to share a few pictures from Charlotte's Christmas program and Alexander's party; we'll see how my brain is functioning.  To remember all of the teacher gifts, the secret Santa gift for Charlotte's classroom, and the camera may be a bigger feat than I can accomplish.  Cross your fingers!