I thought that this year, instead of just buying a bunch of stuff and mailing it off, I’d try to make Christmas presents for people. It’s already September, and I need to get started. I took myself to the craft store to see if I could figure out what in the heck I was going to make.

I came up empty.

I’ve crafted before – when I made this mixed media piece for my mom, these Christmas cards, and last year when I made earrings for the women. But I want to do something I haven’t done, and I have no idea what that could be. I thought about ornaments, because I want to work with the clear glass ones that are so easy to find this time of year, but I’m worried about shipping them.

Then there’s the confidence issue. When I made the cards, I had an idea in my head that was a lot better than they actually turned out. I was disappointed in the results, and not really sure how I could have made them better. So I’m not sure what to do.

I think this might be one of those holidays when I’m completely uninspired to shop, craft, or even decorate.

So I’m a day late and a dollar short when it comes to holiday updates, but you’ll take what you can get, right?

Christmas was pretty decent. I traveled this year, which is the first time I broke my no-travel-at-Christmas rule because usually, it’s such a hassle to bring all the stuff one normally travels with, with the addition of a ton of presents. Mister and I went to visit his parents, which was nice because we were with family instead of just us.

Mister went up on the Monday before Christmas, because his mother’s birthday was the 21st and he wanted to be there for that. He brought Greta, because I thought she was a bit too big to be a carry on doggie (she’s 12 inches at the back when she’s standing up, and airplane seats only have about 8 inches of clearance). Also, I figured that since Greta didn’t really like Mister very much it would give them a chance to bond, which worked out great. She goes to him when he calls now and doesn’t avoid him like the plague. I had 3 days of alone time – actually, 3 nights since I had to work during the day. I spent the time missing my husband and dog, cleaning the stove like a maniac, watching tv and installing my new theme. Not much sleep was had, though.

I flew up to Mister on the Thursday before Christmas, and we spent some time driving around San Francisco before meeting some friends for lunch. Greta was thrilled to bits to see me – it was the best thing that ever happened to her – just like every single day when I come home from work. In her excitement, she covered me in fur, so I was smart and packed a lint roller to try to get it off so I could look presentable. We took Greta to the beach. Mister rested in the truck while I walked her over the dunes to the ocean. Greta was very curious about the different smells, having to sniff every grain of sand, but when we crested the last dune to get to the water, the surf was so much louder and Greta was having none of it. I guess that’s better than having a salty, wet dog who goes swimming in rip tides.

After our beach excursion, Mister and I met our friends at the famed Cliff House, where we were lucky enough to actually see the ocean from our ocean-view table. I had my first taste of dungeness crab in their delicious crab cakes. I later had more crab at my in-laws house. It was awesome – a west coast version of Maine lobster. It was that good.

So, on to the loot. Since Mister and I were traveling for Christmas, we thought it would be silly to haul all our stuff up there only to bring it back, so we opened presents at home the Sunday before. Here’s what we got each other:

Me: a heated shiatsu massage pillow, 3 books on jewelry making, new jewelry tools, a metric ass ton of Swarovski crystal beads, and, um, I forgot what else because I was blinded by all the Swarovski.
Mister: a Blu-ray player, the Underworld trilogy on Blu-ray, Deck the Halls DVD, Get Smart DVD, a Peterbilt book, a Peterbilt model kit, and a metric as ton of stocking stuffers because his stocking is huge.

From the family: Some Longaberger loot from my mom, a digital photo frame, a nice wool jacket, the requisite toys, and of course cash.

After Mister and I got home from his parents, we ventured out on my last day off before going back to work to spend some of our Christmas money. I took Mister to the bead shop so he could help me pick out some more beads, and boy did he ever! Then we went to the hobby shop so he could get paint for his models, and he also picked up two more models – another Peterbilt and a Freighliner cab-over (yes, I’m married to a trucker. Why do you ask?)

Speaking of all this beading and jewelry stuff, I gave out earrings as gifts this year:

Clockwise, from top left: aqua crackle glass and clear crystals for my stepmother, pink foil lined and clear seed beads for Mister’s aunt, greige foil lined and cream pearl clusters for my mom, and pink Swarovski crystals for my sister.

Everyone loved their earrings (not sure about my sister – I haven’t heard from her yet), and they were all thrilled that I made them. My mom’s were inspired by this necklace that she liked, and she’s been wearing the earrings every chance she gets.

Some of them didn’t come out as well as I wanted, but then again, these were the first ones I made. I made my sister’s first, then started on my mom’s. I had one of my mom’s done when I decided to watch an online video of some techniques, so I learned how to properly make a simple loop when I was halfway through that project. Now that I know, it’s full steam ahead!

So how was your Christmas? Did Santa bring you everything you wanted?