Crafting in the Kitchen and Christmas Tradition

This is my husband...back in November as you can see on the calendar.  He was working on his Christmas project.  You see that 2 feet of counter top he's using?  Yeah, that's 3/4 of the usable counter space in the kitchen.  We finally worked out a system for him to work on his project and me to have enough room to cook dinner...it involves a lot of moving things around. But, it's working.  And, I can't show the full picture because I don't want to give away what he's making.  And if you think you know, just keep it to yourself until after December 26th because that's when we'll find out.

About the Make-It Christmas;  For the last 15 years or so we've had this tradition in my family.  Every other year we have a Make-It Christmas.  Each person makes one gift instead of buying something for everyone.  But they only make one item.  Then, on Christmas Eve, or the day after Christmas we all come together with our super secret handmade gifts wrapped up.  We each draw a number and do a gift exchange.  Each gift must be opened after it has been chosen, and it can be 'stolen' up to three times during the course of the night, but after that third steal it can no longer be taken away.  Whoever has their gift stolen gets to open another gift, but that does not include stealing someone else' item.  At the end of everything the person with #1 can choose to trade his/her gift since they did not have any steal opportunities...and then everyone has received something very cherished and lovingly made.  It is always an incredibly fun time, and there is always a lot of guessing about what everyone will make or has made.  My mom always tries to get everyone to tell her before the game...even though that is cheating...and we all give her a really hard time about it. :)  She doesn't like not knowing.  Once a gift is opened and several guesses have been made, the maker identifies themselves. We always learn something about each other, and about ourselves in the process.  We still give regular gifts to children under 18, but encourage the ones over 15 to join us in the Make-It game because it is so much fun.  This is certainly a tradition I love and will continue as long as possible.  We've even gotten my husband's family to join in.  It works out well because essentially you have 2 years to make your item, though I think everyone starts on it just a month or two ahead of time.  Some of the items over the years include...a horseshoe coat rack, a barbecue utensil tree, a beautifully painted Texas flag on sheet metal, handmade crosses of many varieties, quilts, recipe books, poems, calendars, dishwasher magnets to determine clean/dirty, shelves, pottery, a record mobile, food items, picture collages or albums, a cd of nature sounds my uncle recorded, napkins, dishtowels, a beautifully crafted box to hold nuts(and tools to crack them), picture frames, framed mirrors, and a myriad of other things.  These are the things we hold dear, because they hold a memory of the people we love.  It is not just that we received something, or that it was made with much thought and care put into it, but that it was made by someone we love, and we know they made these things out of love to share with us.  It is the most beautiful and cherished tradition we have.

Merry Christmas from our house to yours.  May you truly be blessed.