Cookies! Prepping boxes for teachers & kid friends, coworkers & neighbours. The baking was so easy! I totally think making the dough is the most intensive part. I see why people do those slice-&-bake options. I don’t fancy the taste of those myself but I get the convenience for sure.
The oatmeal raisin, ginger, & inside out chocolate are each very delicious. Not pictured are the Russian tea cakes which are so tasty but too crumbly.
The fudgey brownie and spiced chocolate crinkle dough was SUCH a horrible, sticky mess to work with & the results are frankly not worth the effort. Do not recommend
We’ll still eat them, don’t worry
My Christmas preparations are going well!! I put the cardboard shipping boxes on the sofa last night, wrapped up all the gifts I’ve made, included a few bought ones and put them in the right boxes. Then I finished making the cards, they just need to be written and then they can go in the boxes. Next will be baking today and then I can take everything to the post office tomorrow.
I feel a bit conflicted about sibling gifts. Due to the lockdown we are in, I had not expected my siblings to visit my mum, I’m not going either. But they’ve decided to visit anyway. I’m the oldest and have historically always sent them a card and a small, often homemade gift. I never really hear back from them, although, in a break with tradition, one of them did send me chocolate for my birthday this year. Since I wasn’t expecting them to be at my mum’s when she’s opening the box I figured I wasn’t going to bother with gifts for them, just a card. But now they are going to be there, I feel a bit bad about not including something for them. On the other hand, there are baked goods and chocolate that I know my mother is going to share.
Christmas gifts are not a big tradition here - we give gifts at St. Nick’s, December 5, but in reality in my family we stopped giving gifts when we all finished primary school. I’ve been getting everyone gifts ever since my parents stopped, which is like 15 years ago and no one ever got me anything in return. I used to think “well, they’re young” but even my baby brother is now approaching 30.
I don’t want to force anybody to give gifts if they don’t want to or can’t afford to. But my siblings never comment on or even confirm receipt of anything I get them, and certainly don’t get me anything, not just for Christmas, also not for other occasions, not even a card or a text. I’m tired of one-sided relationships and my #1 pandemic resolution is letting go of relationships that cost me energy and don’t give back. I’m not going to let go of my siblings of course but I was planning to really scale back the amount of effort I put into them. But now I have last-minute bad sister feelings Aaarghhh families are complicated.
You’re right. I’m just going to make sure I throw in plenty of baked goods that my mum can share with whoever she wants to share with and call it a day. And then I’m going to work on the Christmas presents for the Sewing Sisters, my IRL sewing group and our teacher. We usually send eachother handmade ornaments + a card, just a small little thing. They may not be my bio sisters but they are my community, my chosen family, and we’ve grown even closer throughout the pandemic. When meeting IRL wasn’t possible we set up meetings through Skype and we all supported eachother when some of us got ill, had family members that got ill or even died.
I have had other friends like you, who’ve had very complicated family relationships. Those families would always do bizarre, unpredictable, frustrating things! (((Hugs to you!)))
EDITED… I had totally mis-read your message and thought you would be physically present at the gathering, so had typed out some non-applicable suggestions. I think your plan is great and hope you can release any stress you may be feeling!
Thankfully I’ve long cut out contact with those family members who would truly do bizarre things (we have those in the collection too, both on my dad’s side and among my in-laws). The relationships with the remaining family members are cordial but distant.
Both me and Mr. Imma come from such complicated families that often we don’t even know what “normal” is. It only just occured to me half an hour ago that the whole tradition of the oldest sister getting presents for everyone, starting when I was in highschool, is actually pretty weird in the first place. I guess I started doing it because my parents’ marriage had deteriorated so much by then that they didn’t celebrate holidays and birthdays at all anymore, and I felt bad for my younger siblings. If it turns out that my siblings actually do miss the gifting tradition, we can start a new tradition next year where everyone gets gifts for everyone.
Our cousin sent me these pics of the fabric gift bag made for my auntie’s impromptu stocking & the felt & bead letter gift bag tags/ornaments for aunt, uncle, cousin & cousin’s new bf.
And the list of things that I’m going to make and since I am soooo organised, I forget about my list until late October and then I panic that I won’t be able to get it all done, so I might as well not do any of it.
I read somewhere once that procrastinators are usually perfectionists. If you can’t do it right, don’t bother. sigh
I am supposed to make hats for my nieces and nephew this year. I keep having “I should start those” thoughts. Maybe this will be the kick in the pants to actually start…
I have no plans to make anything for anybody. The crafting pressure I’m putting on myself going forward is zero, it feels great!
This will be a year of gift cards & charitable donations.
Crafting under pressure is a very bad idea! We craft for pleasure, not because we have to. If it feels that way, don’t do it.
Personally, for me, I do really enjoy crafting for Christmas, at least for some people. Most of those on my list are also makers. People who are not as excited as I thought they would be about homemade gifts will simply not get them again. Over the years that has pared down my list significantly. But I do need a list because I’m terrible at planning and keeping track and I don’t want to get “first week of December panic”.
Here’s my first list:
Mum
hand-knitted socks. It’s not a surprise, I knit a new pair for her every year. She wears them literally almost every day, so it’s a good gift even if it’s not very original.
Mr. Imma
Sibling #1
Sibling #2
Friend #1
something related to cats and/or dogs
maybe soap. She casually mentioned she liked the soap I made for everyone for the first Covid Christmas but she had used it all up now. If I’m making soap again I’ll throw in a bar for everyone.
Aaarghhh families are complicated.
