Homemade Christmas Gifts

/ Cynthia

My house felt like a Christmas workshop up until Christmas Eve. The carols were playing, sewing machine whirring and the house was filled with the smell of warm cookies, beeswax and herbs.
All my homemade gifts were done on time. Cotton pillow slips and floursack towels were embroidered, washed and ironed. Beeswax votives came out clean and sweet, their wicks straight and trim. The rosebud and lavender drawer sachets smelled like my summer garden and so did the lavender soap. My daughter’s painting was finished, framed and varnished.
The last of the baking, apricot pastries, went quickly so I had time to try out a new recipe. I saw these Almond Bars on Everyday Cheer and I knew they would be delicious and easy… they were!
Christmas Eve was rainy and chilly but it didn’t matter. We had a fire crackling away, a delicious dinner and everyone was filled with a happy, expectant feeling.

28 thoughts on “Homemade Christmas Gifts”

  3. You are amazing. So creative, so talented.
    Now, here’s my question: since we share a name, couldn’t you at least share a little of your talented ways with me?
    Sending you a big smile, and hope Christmas was great for you and yours.

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  5. What a truly lovely way to spend Christmas, what lovely memories to lie down for future generations in your family. Real nice! Have a great festive season, and a wonderful new year Cynthia.

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    • Thank you. The pastries are very easy, even easier than pie crust. The recipe is actually on the back of Solo filling labels. My Mother found it there in the 70’s and it is still there. Your almond diamonds were delicious! Everybody loved them. I have bookmarked a lot of your posts..you have so many beautiful and delicious things I want to make. You have a wonderful blog.

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      • Thank you very much for your kind and encouraging words, Cynthia. I have had so much fun sharing my posts, and hearing from other bloggers like yourself has been the best part.

        Solo is not a brand we have in Canada, but I might be able to find it online. Can you share the name of the recipe for me to Google?

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        • The recipe on the back of the can says, “Hungarian Pastries”. I tried googling it and only came up with a dough using cream cheese. I have tried that and it isnt as flaky or tender as this one, but it is good. Here is what I use;
          1 pound butter
          4 cups flour
          3 egg yolks
          1/2 pint sour cream
          Mix all ingredients as for pie crust. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate at least 3 hours. Divide dough into smaller parts. Roll thinly into a square shape. Cut into smaller squares. Place filling in the middle of the square and moisten 2 opposite sides with water, pinch together. Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes.
          * I refrigerate my dough overnight. This makes a LOT of pastry and uses 3 cans of filling. My baking time is shorter than 20 minutes. I found this site which gives good instructions on rolling and filling even though the dough recipe is different. It also gives a recipe for homemade apricot filling.
          http://www.justapinch.com/recipes/dessert/cookies/cream-cheese-cookies-pastries-hungarian-kiffles.html

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    • Hi Camelia!! Happy New Year! There’s lots of crocheted flower tutorials on Pinterest. I have a book, “100 flowers to Knit and Crochet” by Lesley Stanfield. The little crocheted piece in this photo is from another book, “Mollie Makes Crochet”

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