136 days until Christmas

and yet this afternoon I spent over 2 hours working on Christmas gifts.

you see, I’m a planner. and a budgeter. and in 2013 alone I’ve recently gained 3 new nieces and a sister-in-law which gives me 4 more people we need to squeeze into our Christmas budget.

I’m one of those that doesn’t give gifts just to give them. I want to give something I know the person will love, that has meaning, that was made by me or that will bring memories of our special relationship when they see/use these gifts.

that brings me to Christmas 2013. 2013 has been the year of the kitchen for me. I’ve stretched my culinary muscles so much this year and have been able to invite family and friends over to enjoy in the food I’ve put so much time and energy and love into preparing. This sparked an idea of husband and I writing our own cookbook of our favorite recipes we’ve tried and loved since being married. ones we’ve made memories with. I absolutely cannot wait until it’s finished and we can submit for printing.

We are using Blurb to pull the cookbook together. I’ve used their services before to create a photo book for my dad from my sister and I and the quality is amazing, pricing is stellar, and their downloadable program takes you step by step to create the perfect book. And of course the more you order the cheaper it is. That brings me to Christmas! We will order a minimum of 6 and give one to each of our sets of parents, my brother in law and sister in law, my sister, and of course keep one for us, plus a few to a few friends I know loves cooking and easy recipes. We will see how this works out and maybe they’ll even be an electronic version to purchase here once everything is said and done. We’ll see!!