Monday, December 23, 2019

Homemade Holiday Gifts

DEBORAH CROMBIE: My family has never been particularly crafty.  Um, actually, we were what I would call craft-impaired. Nor were we bakers, apart from my mom’s famous pies, and my grandmother’s Snickerdoodles. For years my parents sent Texas fruitcakes (better than they sound!) to their business customers, and as far as personal and family gifts, there was not a homemade thing to be found. But my mom and I loved real British-style orange marmalade, so imagine our delight when one year we discovered we could buy real Seville oranges in a tin, perfect for making marmalade. All you add is sugar and water.
Cue the trip to Williams Sonoma for the oranges (decades pre-Amazon, obviously), the pretty half pint jars, the ribbons, and the labels. In my memory, the kitchen is warm and filled with the smell of cooking oranges.

We kept this up for several years, and I don’t remember now why we stopped. I’ve made quite a few things for Christmas presents since; my cranberry relish, real old-fashioned deep dark gingerbread, soup mixes, even candles! Last year I made a few friends some Golden Milk mix (turmeric, other spices, coconut powder) and gave those jars with pretty mugs.

This year, however, I discovered that those Seville oranges are available online, so, bingo! I’ll let you know if the marmalade is as good as I remember.

Reds, have you given homemade gifts? What was your most successful

RHYS BOWEN: Ma Made! We’ve made marmalade many times with it! I love homemade gifts but for everyone these days it’s a question of time. I did it a lot when we had little kids and were hard up. I made one daughter a rainbow quilt. I made hand puppets. I used to love knitting sweaters when grandchildren were toddlers. Recently I’ve made semi previous bead bracelets. This year I have hand made gifts for one daughter but I can’t tell you what as she might read this!

LUCY BURDETTE: Can you hear hoots of hysterical laughter? That’s me! How about a handwritten book--a mystery!-- for Christmas?? All kidding aside, I used to sew a lot and produced many gifts that way. But last time I pulled out my mother’s old Singer machine, I couldn’t even get the bobbin threaded. So that will have to wait until I retire from writing. I do love to bake, and I will be making the traditional yellow cake with caramel frosting and some sugar cookies and maybe a chocolate cake too. Oh, and I did make a couple of photo books but cannot say more…

HALLIE EPHRON: Boy would I LOVE it if someone gave me homemade marmalade! (My father-in-law used to stir a spoonful of marmalade into hot tea. I think having it that way is very Russian.)

I did spend yesterday in the kitchen. I made “Tipsy Turtle Bark” (recipe from Epicurious) -- layers of dark chocolate, toasted pecans, and caramel spiked with booze. Easy peasy. And chocolate covered orange rind - a labor of love for my husband who adores dark chocolate and orange. And a brisket which I’ll serve with potato pancakes. Today I’m making hazelnut biscotti… and beds. My daughters and son-in-law and grandkids are arriving this weekend. 




I love to cook but I can’t hold a candle to Lucy’s fancy baking (or vegetabling: she once gave me the BEST homemade pickles ever), and I’m a mess at handcrafts (short attention span, inattention to detail…) But I have stockpiled sequins, glue, construction paper, stickers, and glittery pipe cleaners so the grandkids can make “ornaments” for my potted Norfolk pine. 


DEBS: Hallie, your candy looks fabulous! (We will all be sending you our mailing addresses!!) I have got to try the chocolate oranges!


JENN McKINLAY: Crafter, here! I think I’ve done it all -- baked the cookies, made the relish, painted the picture, cross stitched the sampler, knitted the afghan, made the cinnamon scented ornaments (this is done with cinnamon and glue - perfect for kids), and made the peppermint bark (every year). I love giving homemade gifts and I love getting homemade gifts. They just mean more, at least to me. And I definitely prefer consumable gifts because they don’t take up any more space!

This year I’m making fire starters. It’s a pine cone with a cotton thread wrapped around it, dipped in scented wax. Once the wax hardens, you light the wick and put them on the kindling and as they burn they start the fire with a nice burst of scent. I like peppermint.

JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: I adore getting homemade gifts, but haven’t made any in years. I’m just not together-enough to plan far enough ahead to make something. I still have a needlepoint pillow I was making for Ross’s law school graduation in 1986 unfinished. (I’m hoping Youngest goes to the same law school, then I’ll have motivation to finish it!)

I do receive some lovely homemade gifts each year that I cherish (and gobble down.) One friend makes the most delicious chocolate-covered toffee, and another has a delicious cranberry chutney I look forward to every holiday. More people should make chutney! I got a lemon cake from friend-of-the-Reds Celia Wakefield, and have so far resisted cutting into it. The most unusual gift comes from a friend whose family owns a cherry orchard in Michigan - a jar of cherries in vodka.  That’s a gift that keeps on giving.


HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: Um, yeah, this is lovely and so adorable and I am in awe and so full of admiration.   Dark chocolate and firestarters and  afghans yes, so completely fabulous. But on, no, no I have not craftiness or baking or candy thermometers. BUT you are all so inspirational to this craft-impaired but awestruck Red!  Send chutney. Send firestarters. I am craft-impaired but SO impressed.  

DEBS: Julia, I'm with you on the chutney. I LOVE chutney. Maybe next year...  And, Jenn, I love the fire starter idea. That is so clever.

I think, in fact, that we are a clever bunch. But I have to confess that although I bought the oranges and the adorable little jam jars, I have yet to make the marmalade. Too bad because I was going to add a photo of all those pretty filled jars! Maybe tomorrow...



How about you, dear readers? Do you make gifts? And what has been YOUR biggest success?






78 comments:

  1. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  2. I’ve made jam and marmalade in the past, but it’s been a while . . . .
    I do make gifts . . . I sewed when the children were little, but only made sewing gifts for them.
    But I always bake. Cookies are always a must; this year I’ve added small Bundt cakes [Gingerbread and Dark Chocolate]. Sometimes I think folks must be getting tired of cookies [that's why I'm making cake this year], but everyone seems to want them, so I bake . . . .

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    1. I've never known anyone who got tired of cookies Joan:)

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    2. Agree with Lucy, Joan. I planned to drop cinnamon/pecan stick cookies this year. Day after Thanksgiving, three friends individually asked was I going to make those"very, very good nutty cookies." So I baked...

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  3. I love my family, so I don't make them home made gifts. Trust me, it would be a disaster. And I don't have the desire to do anything crafty anyway. There are too many books to read.

    However, each year, my brother or sister-in-law (depending on who has time) makes a calendar with pictures of my niece and nephew in it. It's one of the first things I open, and I enjoy it all year long. (Okay, so they have someone else print it, but they are the ones who choose the pictures, so I'm counting it as home made.)

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  4. I think my craft gene is so recessive it has totally disappeared. Early in my marriage I sewed a few gifts for family or in-laws. I do remember making mix tapes(?) of a variety of music for my dad. In later years I made jerky for my father-in-law. I don’t knit or crochet so that’s a dead end. Any holiday baking will be set out for guests to eat while we’re visiting. I’m not boxing it up for delivery!

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  5. Crafts are really my strong suit, and I try hard not to feel bad about it. I do have some skills that surprise me at times. For example, for my daughter's wedding reception, I actually decorated the tables, including the cake table, and did a nice job, if I may say so. But, I don't knit, I don't sew, and I don't do crafty gifts. However, I consider making certain food dishes and desserts for the holidays a way of giving love to my family. I even try to do something new each year at Christmas. This year it will be the Cherry Cheesecake Chocolate Bundt cake. I used to make fudge, but I haven't in a few years. I may make some after Christmas this year, after we've eaten all the other sugar foods. Oh, and my daughter says I have a special talent for finding gifts people are looking for or want, so I'm going to claim that, too.

    Hallie, I might be up to trying that dark chocolate and orange if you are willing to part with the recipe.

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    1. Kathy, finding those special gifts is the best talent!!

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    2. Hallie has shared the recipe in the past. I've made it, and she's correct: it's a labor of love, emphasis on the labor. But so good.

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  6. I've never needlepointed, but I have in various years made aprons, cloth coasters, plastic bag holders (a long cloth sleeve that hangs from a cord, that you stuff plastic bags into the top of and pull them out from the bottom), and a dried (homegrown) herb mix to give away. And chutney! Green-tomato-apple chutney is a great way to use up some green tomatoes. I bake lots of cookies and give away plates full, but mostly we eat them! For special babies in my life I make them a baby quilt, at birth, though, not for Christmas.

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    1. Edith, the baby quilt gift reminds me of my grandmother, who was a knitter. Every year, she started knitting gifts for her eighteen grandchildren in January. We would get double mittens (very warm!), scarves, and at some point, you might be the recipient of a sweater (she usually only had time for one of those per year.) In addition, she crocheted a full-sized afghan for each of us as a high school graduation present. Mine is sitting in my family room right now, which shows the value of homemade gifts!

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  7. I am very impressed with those of you who find the time to craft. I am definitely craft-impaired. I used to sew fairly well, but never had the patience for the careful details or the eye to put it all together. The occasions the end-product looked great were really accidents! ( And 3 of my 4 grandparents were garment workers at one time) I finally realized my true craft is writing. I do bake, though, and I have a date this week to bake holiday cookies with the grandgirls. I've already rounded up the cookie cutters, refreshed the food coloring supply, (found a red that stays red) and laid in confectioners sugar. We are ready!

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    1. What fun you'll have Triss! Have you written about the 3 grandparents from the garment industry? that sounds fascinating...

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  8. I don't do homemade gifts for anyone. Much like Mark, it would be a certified disaster.

    I do like to receive homemade baked goods from people though.

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  9. I love giving homemade gifts. This year it’s granola and shortbread from my kitchen. And from my craft table, I made a desk calendar using my own collages from the past couple of years for the images. Great fun to put together and most satisfying to give!

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    1. Wonderful solutions--Maybe if I started on the calendars for 2021 now?

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    2. Julie and I are the proud recipients of one of Amanda's calendars, and it is lovely, has a place of honor in our home. Thank you again Amanda xox

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    3. Delighted to include international recipients on my list, Ann. Thanks for being them. (Atrocious grammar, but you get my point.) xo

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    4. Granola, hmmm. I do have a fabulous granola recipe. Maybe next year. How do you package it for gifts, Amanda?

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    5. Just in a tall Mason jar, with maybe a ribbon round it, if I have one on hand. I don’t buy those things myself, so I use them only if they come into my house via someone else #savingtheplanet

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  10. Love, love, love, homemade gifts - giving or receiving. I've made candles, soaps, afghans (crocheted, not knitted) and one stellar year, I paid for all of my Christmas gifts by making and selling ornaments to a local store. Amazing what you can do with a child's sock!

    Jenn, I'm looking up that firestarter idea. Sounds wonderful and perfect for us, we have two fireplaces in this house.

    Chutney...never thought of it, but I love it. Off to locate recipes - right after I munch on Hallie's oranges which I will be cutting out of my computer screen. They look too good to pass up!

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    1. Bless you, Kait, for keeping the homemade gift tradition alive for those of us too disorganized or too craft-impaired to make them ourselves.

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    2. We use them in our fire pit outside, too!

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  11. I'm in awe of the homemade gifts noted by all of you. I have craft tendencies, but often more good intentions than talent. I do cross stitch (took it up years ago with the hope that it would teach me patience) and I bake. In fact, today's primary job is to finish up this year's cookies so I can put together the plates to give away. When my mother passed away last year, I ended up with the boxes and boxes and boxes of photos she had. In an attempt to give most of them away, I gave my siblings and their children photo albums for Christmas last year. Somehow, I still have a huge bin of photos.

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    1. the photo books with old pictures are such a good idea Chris!

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    2. Chris Ryan, I too have my mom's photo collection. Which actually includes my grandmothers, too. The gift albums are a great idea! thank you.

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    3. Cross stitch demonstrates that you have the patience to stab something thousands of times. With that kind of patience, sorting through old photos ought to be a snap.

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  12. I'm pretty craft-impaired, but we have enjoyed getting kits to help our grandkids make things. This year it included a set that has "blank" white ornaments and a device that spins the ornament. It includes markers that they hold against the ornament while it spins, which makes nice patterns. We went ahead and gave it to them last night because they have so many presents.

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    1. What a cool gift, Jim. My granddaughter would love that. Where did you find it?

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  13. Edith! That green tomato and apple chutney sounds wonderful!!! I’m not very adept at much of anything homemade, although I’ve started to teach myself a few things via YouTube, which is a wellspring of instructional videos.

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    1. You Tube videos are now the go-to, David, and none of us will have to go to school or hire tradesmen in the future! Seriously, I was able to bleed off and restart my oil-burning furnace after watching a YouTube video. I don't think I was as impressed with myself when I got a law degree.

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  14. I bake cookies for the neighbors and used to bake for the teachers and bus drivers. When I had a fine lavender crop (in Cincinnati, not since 2012 when the weather changed for the worst and lavender ceased to winter-over), I would dry the flowers on screens and make sachet bags to tuck in a pillow or sock drawer.

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    1. Oh, I love lavender sachet! So bizarre about the weather…

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  15. Seriously craft impaired here. I can't remember the last time I made anything unless it was that shadow box thingie for my mother for Mother's Day, sometime in the early 70s.

    But I do cook and bake, all year long. It isn't so much that I'm generous as that I always make too much for two people, so I carry meals, cakes, pies, cookies, breads, whatever, to my neighbors.

    Yesterday I made mince pies, sausage rolls, and stuffed dates. Those, with date nut bread I made and froze a couple of weeks ago, and a handful of candies and nuts, will go on plates to take to neighbors. For sure I have to get them out of the house.

    One neighbor has brought us homemade bread and butter pickles. I eat those straight out of the jar with my fingers. Don't look. They're all for me anyway. Julie will never know.

    Today we are going to the fish market to collect the seafood for our Christmas Eve cioppino al la Tim and Victor. I did send the recipe to Hallie per request, and Victor is over the moon, star struck, that an Ephron girl will be making their cioppino one of these days! He's so gay. Hallie, you couldn't have given him a better gift than asking for his recipe.

    Tomorrow is Christmas Eve and there's not one package under the tree. Five warm coats went to children in the city schools, so if you see some kids in bright red puffy coats, or dark gold, or one preschooler in navy blue, let me know. I kicking myself that I didn't stick mitten and hats in the pockets.

    Merry Happy Jungle Reds. I wish I could feed each of you a mince pie. Or a sausage roll. Or something.

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    1. Ann, you should suggest Victor and Tim eat their cioppino while watching Henry and Phoebe Ephron's movie DADDY LONG LEGS for the ultimate gay experience!

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    2. Ann: sausage rolls!! Mince pies!!! Yum yum yum. I have to try my hand at mince pies which we always had as dessert on Christmas. I loved them with lashings of brandy butter that my father always made. Am salivating just thinking about it.

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    3. Julia, what an idea! Maybe we should watch it while eating ours, too!
      Amanda, so easy to make. Bottled mincemeat, Cross and Blackwell if you can get it, and supermarket pastry. What you must have are the little pie tins, like cupcakes tins but tiny, just right for bite size pies. Julie's dad loved these, and once i gave him a box for Christmas. He hoarded them and ate them all by Christmas night.

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    4. Ann, have you given US the cioppino recipe?

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    5. tjrecipes.com.

      La Vigilia and Crab Cioppino


      Dungeness crab is best but Julie doesn’t like crab so I use lobster tales




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    6. I love mince pies, Ann! Your friends and neighbors are so lucky to have you in their lives.

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    7. I have a great old recipe for bread and butter pickles that I've never made but often ate. At grandma Dale's holiday table we always were served bread and butter pickles. Maybe my sister and will spend a week crying and making memory recipes next summer.

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  16. An other craft-impaired here but I cook and bake. Over the years I have given plum jam, strawberry jam, granola. This year, like the few last ones I give dates squares and maple syrup squares . For a friend who works too hard, I'll also bring a lasagna. It will be a meal less to make for her family.

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    1. Danielle, what are maple syrup squares? Coming from a state that produces a lot of maple syrup, this intrigues me.

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    2. Sounds like it might be related to the French dessert Tarte au sucre?

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    3. Danielle, love the gift of lasagna for your friend! Something to think about this holiday season!

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    4. For the maple sirup squares there are a base and a lining and it bakes in a 9X13 pan.
      Base: 1-1/2 c flour, 1/4 c brown sugar, 1/2c butter. Mix them than press it in the pan and bake at 350 for 15 min.

      Lining a) : 3/4 c brown sugar, 1 c maple sirup, 3 table spoon flour. Mix in a saucepan , bring to simmer and simmer
      5 minutes
      Lining b) : beat 3 eggs with 1/4 tea spoon and than pour slowly the sirop mixture

      Pour all on the base. If you like you can add chopped pecans or walnuts and bake at 350 for 25 minutes.

      Family and friends ask for more every time.

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    5. The eggs are beaten with 1/4 ts salt

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  17. Last year, maybe a couple months or so before Christmas my granddaughter was here and she asked for pickles so I gave her some I had made. She thought they were wonderful! At the same time she couldn't tell me anything she wanted as a present. Ah-ha! Pickles it would be. As the day approached I would often hint about the gift I was making. I told her she would love it. I asked her to guess what it might be. "Something knitted?" she said. She might appreciate my knitted gifts but I've never known her to actually wear them, especially not hats. Needless to say the pickles were the biggest hit of the day and besides a big jar to her there was another big jar for her brother. I think they were gone in less than a week.

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    1. My grandmother used to make the best watermelon rind pickles, but I have no idea how she did it. I'd give a lot for a jar of them now.

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    2. I make watermelon rind pickles, Gigi. I can see I must make some for you in time for my next trip to Text

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  18. I am so not crafty, but for the last 50 years I have written a Christmas letter which goes near, and far away as New Zealand. My first one was handwritten to my family after I arrived in the USA in 1969. Now it has photos, and layouts etc, but I am not crafty. However I can cook, but am not a good baker. (I wish Julia would try the cake? Did I mention I left an ingredient out?). My cooking gifts in times past were containers of homemade mincemeat, an English Christmas staple, or chutney, made in the Indian style, hot and spicy. We also held a kids neighborhood cookie decorating party when my daughter was young which we all loved, except for the cleanup. But I love reading about everyone's particular skills and the food sounds delicious.

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    1. Christmas letters are wonderful! I love receiving Christmas letters. Cookie decorating party sounds like fun!

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  19. Celia, I would take your home made mincemeat and chutney! Yum!

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  20. Some of you know Francine Mathews (aka Stephanie Barron.) She does the most gorgeous cross stitch pieces I've ever seen!]

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  21. Julia, I don't know if your cherry gift came with a name, but in Wisconsin we call it "Cherry Bounce" - enjoy!

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  22. So many fun gift ideas here. I live homemade gifts, but so few of my family and friends give them.

    I make up for them, though, or at least I have in the past. Ever since childhood I've made gifts, and like Jenn, in nearly every possible craft area. Stuffed toys, aprons, ornaments, sweatshirts, jams, cookies, fruitcake (only to those friends and family I know love it), potpourri and sachets, bottled herbs from my garden, venison jerky, table linens, afghans, scarves, cross-stitch, needlepoint. I'm exhausted remembering it all.

    Not this year, though. I bought every single gift, and not a single one is actually wrapped. Thank goodness for gift bags. My daughter and I reuse them every year, and I have at least two that have now been used more than three times.

    Merry Christmas, everyone. We are going to be busy for the next couple days, but I wanted to make sure to wish you all a warm and happy holiday.

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    1. Merry Christmas, Karen! And we do hope you can check in, even briefly!

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  23. I used to be the crafting queen, making candles and clothing, cookies . . . you name it. That was back when I was young, ambitious, and had the time. Some of my best gifts were aimed at my sister. She got a lacy crocheted shawl, a "sexy" flannel nightgown, a special reading robe and, when we were both Anne McCaffrey crazy, her own arm-sized fire lizard which I designed and sewed myself. I was up until 3 am Christmas morning putting the last beaded claws on that thing, but she was amazed, and that's all that counted.

    These days I take small craft projects into rehearsal with me, if I can remember to plan them out ahead of time. It would probably be a good thing if I thought of them as potential Christmas gifts and actually strategized in advance but no. No. That doesn't happen. Merry Christmas, everybody!

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  24. All this crafting reminds me of the string of buttons I crafted for my mother when I was 8 or so. Found that string in her "good jewelry" box after her death 58 years later. Christmas is for memories and misty eyes. Happy Christmas, All.

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    1. The "good jewelry" box was the most appropriate place for your necklace of buttons. Where else would she put it?

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  25. What a lot of talent and pleasure shared! My best home-made gifting effort was the year I gave flannel nightshirts to my sisters--found the softest flannel in pretty pastel colors--all were worn until the flannel faded away to nothing. Like others here, I enjoy edible gifts!

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  26. Shalom Reds and readers. I’ve never really made anything as a gift for someone else. Perhaps I once made some blueberry bread which came out of a box. But it wasn’t on Christmas.

    However, today, I am walking over to my friend, Allan’s house to help him with making a CD of himself playing 20 or so songs. We are going to use his electric piano to record the songs on a USB thumb drive and then burn the CD on his computer. We’ve done the whole rigmarole twice before. I hate it. It means I have to follow the directions in the user’s manual and it is not always self-evident which button to push next.

    However, the whole process can’t take more than three hours and I should have confidence that what was done before can be done again. Happy Christmas to all.

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    1. A gift of time is a generous gift for your friend.

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  27. Hope it is not too late to chime in.

    Always enjoy getting homemade gifts. And it is wonderful to create homemade gifts. In college, my roommate taught me how to knit and I remember the basics. I knitted a sweater for my college boyfriend. Scarves for Christmas gifts for relatives. I was reminded of my schooling at Catholic school. Our teacher had a crafts project. We made potholders. I learned how to create a potholder when I was four years old. (I started school when I was two years old!) . And I still have the potholder.

    Cooking is fun. It is wonderful baking Christmas cookies. When I was a kid, we lived in a house with a beautiful garden. Rhubarb grew in the backyard. I remember baking Rhubarb pie and making rhubarb jam. Love orange marmalade. When I lived in England, I discovered gooseberry marmalade, ginger marmalade, and many more kinds of marmalade. Only orange marmalade in the USA?

    Diana

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    1. Diana, it's never too late to chime in! The Brits do like their marmalade, but none are as good as those made with the Seville oranges. Dundee is good for a store bought.

      I remember making those woven potholders in school, too! My mother used hers for years!

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    2. Deborah, thank you :-) . I do love marmalade and perhaps that is because I am 1/4 British? I have seen Dundee orange marmalade somewhere.

      Still using the potholder that I made ages ago!

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  28. I bake and make candy for holiday gifts. My friends and I are at the point where we don't want to accumulate more "stuff," which means consumable items are appreciated.

    While I don't do crafts, I welcome homemade items. My sister-in-law always made us a dozen or so ornaments for our tree (as they were child safe, I passed them on to my daughter when her kids were little). And, as she commented this morning, the tree-full of crocheted snowflakes SIL gave her are her most cherished wedding gift.

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    1. Yum! What kind of candy do you make for holiday gifts?

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  29. Mom could wield a mean hot glue gun. My sister was a wiz at sugar eggs at Easter. I crochet more than knit. And cooking, was pretty much a no brainer for all three of us. Mom would burn out making stuff for the bazaar at church and I usually supplied about a dozen scarves and at least one baby blanket so homemade gifts for family was a rarity. This year I am crocheting blankets for the niece and nephew that will be finished next year, I work too many hours. About twenty years ago scarves made with feather, fringy, or eyelash yarns knitted on oversized needles was the rage and I made a few for my aunts and female cousins. Homemade gifts are pretty much a waste in that family mainly because they had so little growing up that being able to purchase gifts was a proof of success. I think my most popular "homemade" gift was a downed apple tree in my backyard. The tree had finally succumbed to age the previous August. I cut up the larger limbs and let them dry on the back patio until Christmas. I gave a chunk of tree and a little story to the individual family units so they could use the tree when they bar-b-qued and needed some wood for smoking their food.

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  30. My grandma was the queen of crafters, and my mother and aunt made things, too. I have ornaments on the tree that Grandma, Mom, and I made. I bake and sometimes share with my friends. I did give my cousins sugar cookies for Christmas.

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  31. A last little update. I made the marmalade, which is absolutely delish, but it didn't set!! I tested it, it looked fine, but just now I've seen that it's still liquid in the jars. Oh, well, it will be fine in the fridge...

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  32. I love crafting! I try to get a head start and learn a new craft or project each year and make them for all my clients. Sometimes friends get them too if I’m ahead of the game! My best was a wine bottle stopper made on a mini lathe! And I have made candles, bookmarks, tile magnets with photos on them, coasters....I love giving homemade gifts!

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