christmas gifts and resolutions

ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh. finally! i can tell you what i made AND received for christmas.

for my brother, i made home-made, eco-friendly laundry detergent. i followed a recipe i found online for a powder detergent. it made SO much that i had some left over for myself! for very little cost we had a ton. i may do this again for adam, eric and me. easy, earth-friendly and cheap. i gifted it in 2 glass canisters.

for my mom, i made reusable canvas grocery totes.

for my dad, i made a dvd of photos of adam's first year of life. i chose all the photos, decided their order and chose the song "beautiful boy," ben harper's version. i paid someone on etsy to actually create it.

for eric, i framed a world map. i marked in blue all the places he's been, in yellow all the places we've traveled together, in green all the places we have traveled as a family, and in purple all the places i have traveled alone. as we continue to travel (and move...) we will continue to update it.

for my brother's girlfriend, stephanie, i made a french memo board.

i received:
from my mom, wine glasses and a pitcher wrapped with twine. hard to describe, but beautiful!
from my brother, a little blue step stool for adam to stand on when he brushes his teeth and washes hands. it has his name on it.
from stephanie, a gorgeous necklace and two pairs of earrings that she made herself! she also cross stitched a C and framed it. so pretty.
from my dad, a sewing kit! as he noted, desperately needed. measuring tape, needles, thread, safety pins, etc, all in a nice little kit.
from eric, this wooden device (don't know how else to describe!) that keeps our dog off our couch when we're not home! it basically blocks him from jumping up there. yay!

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are you guys making new year's resolutions? i typically don't, but this year for some reason have so many ideas for resolutions. i have been carrying around my little journal in my bag, writing them down as they pop in my mind for days. then, today i saw this article with 10 ideas as offerings for the new year. these make a good frame to think about some potential resolutions for 2010, to organize ideas, enhance things we already do, or to fill in the gaps between some resolutions we made before.

i am going to organize my growing list into these categories and see where it takes me.

1-get energized about your future.
2-plug into your spiritual self.
3-let go of the old.
4-serve others.
5-honor your physical self.
6-be daring.
7-soothe your mind.
8-notice your surroundings.
9-create community.
10-make a nature date.