Domestic Goddess in Training

All my life, I've marveled at people who are creative with their hands, particularly with decorations or in the kitchen. While I can hang pictures so that they're relatively straight and I can cook some decent meals, most of the time, they just aren't--how shall I say it--pretty. My mom has the gift of great style when it comes to crafts and cooking; the stuff she makes is not only functional or delicious, but it looks fabulous. In my case, my motto is: it tastes/works better than it looks. Mom has tried to teach me this talent, probably with the hopes of passing it on to the next generation. So far (other than crochet), the best shot she has at keeping this skill in our blood lines is if it has skipped a generation and gone directly to my girls. However, there may be a tiny ray of hope for me. The desire to keep at least a little shred of joy in the holiday season, I've tried to stay out of the shops: not entirely, of course, but at least to try to focus on keeping things a little simpler this Christmas. Therefore, I opted for the "homemade" gift route. My concern was that they'd look tacky and like I did a half-assed job. Here's a pic of the final result: Each mug has a package of marshmallows in blue plastic wrapping and then homemade hot cocoa mix on top, sealed in a ziplock and then surrounded with gold snowflake wrapping. Tucked in the back of the mug, a hand dipped chocolate spoon and a candy cane. In the gift bag, I included jelly filled/choc dipped cookies, brownies sprinkled with crushed peppermint stick and then green/red twist cookies shaped like candy canes. The cookies look ok--not the way I pictured them in my head, but not as bad as previous attempts. But, the whole really does look better than the sum of its parts. I think our friends and Jon's co-workers will enjoy their packages. I can honestly say they were made with heart and care. And, as far as being simple--well, let's just say that it wasn't hard--but a bit time consuming. It was totally worth it. I have about a 1/2 dozen more of these to do the end of next week for the girls' teachers. Hey, mom...getting scared, yet? I am....this cooking/domestic thing isn't too bad.