Christmas Past

Oh my gosh, has it really been 17 days since I posted anything?!?  I guess it has.  Well that's what the holidays will do.  Kim and I did have our baking day.  We never get everything baked that we set out to do.  No matter that we make batches of cookie dough ahead... It's those darn sugar cookies that take so long to roll and cut out and frost.  But everyone loves them so.  We end up make four batches of them every Christmas.  Then we wind up each of us baking several other kinds during the evenings that follow our baking day and we divide them between us. 

We kept everything else pretty simple for Christmas.  No large extravagant gifts this year and it did make for a much easier and more enjoyable holiday.  I think that regardless of our financial situations in Christmas'es to come that we will keep this "less is more" simple approach.  Dinner at Kim's:  a small ham, cheesy potatoes, green beans and what else--cookies for dessert! 

Even my Christmas cards this year were very simple. 

I used my Cricut and Joys of the Season to cut out the leaping reindeer, freehand cut the snowdrifts, dotted on the snowflakes using my White Uniball pen and layered these pieces with a knotted ribbon and a strip of last year's Basic Grey Wassail collection on an ivory card.  (I loved the Wassail collection, one of my favorites--although I have many Basic Grey favorites...)

My sister and I try to exchange handmade gifts every year...  I made her and my mom a big batch of all occasion cards.  Some were from Basic Grey card kits (love those)  and some were from previous card marathons at the store and some were from my scraps to cards efforts.
 

My sister made both Kim and I lovely, sparkly, beaded bracelets and earrings.  I wish I was better at jewelry making, but that is not my talent!

This is not a very good photo--it does not capture the sparkle, but notice the "C" for Cheryl that she put on the bracelet for me! And Kim's bracelet sported a "K" for her!  Thank you Karen! 

I wish everyone the very best of everything this holiday season.  Merry Christmas now and all year long.