Friday, December 26, 2008
Crafty Christmas!


So last year, after being a little sick of all the superfluous gift-giving and shopping just for the sake of it, I proposed that next time we get creative and make all our gifts. This was before I decided to go back to school, though, and as crafty Christmas approached and with my mind on finals, I started regretting my suggestion. But it ended up being really fun.

Actually, Chris and I cleaned up. We've been dreaming of replacing our useless kitchen island with a rustic farm table. But after seeing that custom-built ones were selling for anywhere from $1,500 to $8,000, we thought it might not happen anytime soon. To our surprise, Ken built us one using reclaimed wood from an old bridge outside Big Sur. (Legal note: The bridge was to be removed after being damaged in the fire. No trees or state property were harmed in the making of our table. Phew... Ken, you're safe.) We ate Christmas Eve dinner on the table, and it looks awesome! Chris is looking forward to Sunday mornings with the paper spread out on it, and I can't wait to outfit it with some mid-century Eames chairs to give it our eclectic modern touch (examples here and here).

Some of the other crafty gifts included a custom wine rack, Cubs-themed stuff, a personalized cookbook, bath salts, and original photography. Not bad for being homemade, and everything meant way more than if we'd just braved the stores and bought some DVDs. But it was also a lot of work, so we may go back to the traditional way next year. Or (if I have my way) call off all gifting until there are children.

We had a yummy holiday dinner and spent time watching Xmas movies and decorating cookies. Note the amoeba-esque gingerbread creations a la Chris in the pictures below. When I asked about his "art" he joked, "you wouldn't get it." :)

After a couple of days in the woods, we had to rush back to our little fur baby... and my new Kitchen-Aid mixer, which was Chris' gift to me (OK, so we can't go completely without material possessions). Looks like on New Year's Eve our friends will be the lucky benefactors of all the baked goods I'll be making this week!


Posted by Kelley at 11:46 PM | 1 comments