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“This week has been a bustle of Christmas-prep! We’ve been busy finishing our Christmas shopping, wrapping presents, cooking, etc. But my favorite part of the week before Christmas is an annual shopping trip to the big Italian deli in Cleveland, Galucci’s. They have a fantastic selection of meats and cheeses, so we brave the snow and cold to wait in line (sometimes for almost an hour) to get our prosciutto, piave vecchio and castelvetranos. This year, I went with my mom, grandfather, and two uncles (the photo is Uncle Randy and me in front of a giant wheel of crucolo). It’s a tradition that I will always treasure!”
*No matter how well you plan your Christmas list, sometimes you just need to scramble to find a last minute gift. You forgot someone’s girlfriend was going to be there. Or you THOUGHT you bought that shirt for your brother but it has magically disappeared. We’ve got some last minute gift ideas for you this week. One of my personal favorites is a bottle of booze. Keep a few extra bottles of your favorite mid-priced wine on hand, and you’re all set. Wine bags are great, but in a pinch you can always wrap it up in a few sheets of tissue paper and tie a ribbon around the neck.
*Chocolate. And I’m not talking about Hershey’s. Something special. My personal favorites are Abdallah’s dark chocolate sea salt caramels. Or anything from Malley’s, which is a Cleveland-area institution.
*Repackage something from your pantry! Yes, it sounds kind of crazy, but if you’ve made my vanilla bean sugar then you know that anyone would be happy to receive a mason jar full of that deliciousness! And I certainly wouldn’t be disappointed if someone gave me this spicy hot chocolate mix, which would be really easy to throw together with ingredients that you probably have on hand already.
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“I had big plans for this year’s Christmas cards, but sadly I couldn’t get them just right. So instead I pulled together these pretties which arrived yesterday (and now I’m getting hand cramps from trying to get them to everyone as close to Christmas as possible). I’ve still got 50% of my shopping list to buy for and lots of baking- what do you have left to do? Good luck, whatever it is!
P.S.- Our management team gave us the Best Gift Ever- a White Elephant consisting of ONLY BOOZE. May I recommend it for all your future occasions? We all walked away as winners.”
* Several years ago, there was a mix-up as to whether some of our extended family was coming for our gift opening or not. It was confusing, no one shopped and we were left with only a few last minute options. Surprisingly, it was was one of the best gift years ever! Proving the best gifts don’t have to be a million dollars: head to your local drugstore/Target/Wal-Mart, have a photo printed and stick it in a pretty frame. Ten minutes later and one gift down!
*Some people think gift cards are a cop-out, but I kind of love them! I tend to gift them with a small treat too- how about movie tickets with a bag of popcorn and Red Vines? Gift card to the nail salon and a bottle of party-ready red polish? Coffee shop card and a mug?
* GlobalGiving. Pair your gifting spirit with some global generosity and head to this site full of projects around the world where people are making a difference. You can give gift cards to your recipient so they can pick their own project, or give them a small card telling them where you’ve donated in their honor. LOVE.
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It was a busy week over here at A&C, as our wire star ornament DIY was quite a hit! Make:Craft added it to their site, and it got some love from MomAdvice’s blog, Crazy Red Pen, and Friend Stitch (in French).
Top Inspired featured Carla’s peppermint lip duo in a Top 10 DIY Peppermint Beauty products roundup.
FaveCrafts added our party place card ideas post to their DIY Party Crafts roundup. We’re always happy when someone else appreciates one of our quirky crafts, like the gilded turkey!
And our mason jar travel cups were featured in MSN Canada’s “10 Mason Jars, 10 Awesome DIYs” roundup. We think they’d make a really fun gift, if you still need some ideas!