gifts

I'm a horrible gift giver.

I always wanted to be the type of person who remembered everyone's birthdays and special times in their lives with card or small gifts.

Or the type of person who felt like making dozens of cookies or candies or treats for their neighbors during the holidays.

Or the person who is prepared with teacher gifts, doctor gifts or coach gifts. 

Or the person who makes a card and sends it to someone who shared a moving talk at church or just because they are an inspiration.

Or even the type of person who gives a phone call and lets someone know they're being thought of.

But, I'm not.

I wish I were.

I have tons of craft supplies from my hoarding station downstairs to make (theoretically easy and quick) gifts, but I never seem to actually make them.

Under my bed I have 3 boxes of gift bags, wrapping paper and ribbons for making some beautiful decoration to a well-planned gift. But, most often, I don't actually prepare a gift to wrap.

See. . . horrible.

But I'm still trying.

With Christmas less than 2 weeks away I'm still trying to finish up presents for my daughters (get excited, it's turning out sooo cute), and of course, for my husband, and mine and Mike's families, and then I thought I should definitely get presents for my visiting teach-ees, oh, and my violin students, and of course the girls who regularly babysit for me, etc. . .

And instead of getting overwhelmed this year, I'm on a roll. 

It feels soooooo good to use up that wrapping paper under my bed.

And of course, it feels extra good that I was able to think about and show a little of my gratitude for these wonderful and helpful people in my life.

I wish these pictures turned out less blurry because they look pretty darn awesome in real life. I decided to make ornaments for all my violin students (and I happened to have all the supplies on hand) 

I printed off those cute violin player silhouettes onto vellum, there's also antiqued sheet music behind it that peeks through. I also personalized each ornament by stamping each student's name and the year. Then there are curls or ribbon thrown in for a bit of color and tied to the top for the ornaments to hang. 

 Not professional by any means but hopefully it'll help them remember their wonderful accomplishments this year.