Our Christmas 2012

I have been wanting to post on here for a very long time, but I just haven't had the chance! Even though the holiday busyness is over, it still seems like life has kept a busy pace. Here are a few things from our Christmas this year and what kept me busy the whole month of December!

We started off with an advent calendar that I made for my husband. Each day had a little love note inside and occasionally I would add a special surprise. 

I made these soaps for the ladies of the family. I bought a Shea Butter base and added my own essential oil and coloring (which I swirled for a marble effect). I wrapped them in parchment paper and made my own tags for them. It really was rather easy to make these. Just took a little time!

These here are SUPER easy. I mean, they are so easy I was almost embarrassed to take any credit for making them. Haha. I got the recipe for this sugar scrub off of Pinterest. I'm not sure where the original recipe came from, but all you do is mix together 3 parts sugar, 1 part Olay Dawn Dishsoap. That's seriously it. I bought containers at Michaels and decorated them as shown. The cute boxes came from Christmas Tree Shoppe.

These gift baskets were filled with all homemade goodies. I bought the baskets at Michaels when they were clearanced out the week before Christmas.

The jars are homemade apple butter and grape jam, which I made in the fall. You can sort of see the biscuit mix I put together as well. I basically just put all the dry ingredients into a paper bag and printed out directions for putting them together and baking them.

In the back I tucked in some handmade dishcloths and viola, the basket was complete. I gave these to the parents and grandparents, and they were a hit.

Our Christmas day together, just Kyle and me, was complete with a yummy breakfast and rich, peppermint hot cocoa. Our wonderful aunt bought these adorable mugs for us for Christmas... aren't they awesome?!

There are a lot of recipes I have tried out recently that I have loved and I want to share them. So be on the lookout, because these are some keepers! 

I hope everyone is having a great start to the New Year. We have much to look forward to in the months ahead. :)

Have a great day,