I’ll Be Late for Christmas – some last minute gift ideas

“I’ll Be Late for Christmas” has sort of become our motto for this holiday season. I’m not sure there was anything specific that put me so far behind, but Thanksgiving travels, lots of catch-up work, gingerbread houses and too many trips to the ER (broken bones and a full body cast) and doctors pretty much did us in.

The gorgeous 12 foot Christmas tree is only half decorated. One wreath and the stockings were the only decor to make it out of storage. No fun holiday baking was done, nor was there even a chance to properly shop for gifts for family and friends.

Through the busy hours, however, I found myself listening to Christmas music almost constantly and had come to really enjoy some new songs. So, in lieu of homemade baked goods, or jars of preserves from our kitchen, we exchanged with our friends and neighbors a music CD (the hubs kept offering it as our “mix tape”).

My husband and I were able to crank out a dozen (between our two computers) in an hour or so.

The inside cover had our holiday wishes and a few pictures along with the playlist. I bought jewel cases of red and green at the office store and printed CD labels. But they have adorable already-designed blank CDs available now, too. Total time saver.

As for the music, I tried to add some classics performed by some different groups, some original songs and a small mix of genres. Not everyone will like every song, but it’s the thought that counts – right?

I attempted to “share” my playlist on iTunes for you all to see (and use if you’re so inclined), but wasn’t sure how to link to it, etc. So you can search for it like this:

Go to the iTunes store. In the search window in the upper right corner, type “I’ll be late for christmas!” and then search. Find my playlist on the lower left side of the results in the “Playlists” section.

There were other non-baked, but creative and appreciated exchanges we got from friends that are worth noting. One family came-a-carolling to sing us “We Whisk you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Beer.” And then gifted us the whisk with a baking mix and a 20 oz micro brew. Loved it!!

Another fun idea that was gifted us was a beautifully adorned bag of mistletoe with lip gloss attached and a note that read, “For you and your husband to enjoy!” Find my friend’s blog The Full Measure for a great read and more great ideas!

Since what little we did get done for Christmas was only just done, I think we’ll be observing the “12 Days of Christmas” as they were meant to be, with the first day being December 25th. I still won’t bake, decorate or shop. But we will slow down, read stories and sit by the fire listening to Christmas music and hopefully regain the bits of the Christmas season that we love and feel like we missed while trying to keep-up with everything else. Merry Christmas.

Snowflake Adventures Gingerbread House

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Every year, our little community has their annual Snowflake Festival the first two weeks of December. One of their many activities and competitions is the Gingerbread House Competition. So – I thought perhaps this year I would enter.

The kicker is, you have to follow the festival’s theme for the year. The 2011 theme was “Snowflake Adventures,” so I complied. But that meant somehow creating an “adventure” out of all edible things and incorporating a house…. hmmm. Ski lodge?

Eight boxed cakes, two double batches of marshmallow, two double recipes of royal icing and one batch of gingerbread dough later (along with other assorted edibles), you have a three-story Adirondack tobogganing resort complete with rope tow, bonfire and skating pond. Whew.

Random list of edibles used?? Shredded wheat, pretzels, guacamole tortilla chips, dried beans, dried pasta, fruit roll-ups, fruit-by-the-foot, graham cereal, chocolates, candy canes and melted hard candies.

I haven’t made a gingerbread house in a couple of years, so it was fun to create this. My first time in a competition as well. I did win first in my class and then took the championship. Two pretty ribbons to prove it. What did I win? A mention in the local paper and my house on display in the hospital lobby (I think they spelled my name wrong). Would I do it again? Yes!