Christmas gifts a la Haley

In this house we make our presents. Having the children around all of the time makes this a lot easier and stress free than you'd think. WAY less stress than shopping, shopping, shopping, even by catalog... Not too sure what is going to happen for the kids even now, three weeks before Christmas - as they realy have not given even the slightest hint of what they want, except Connor, who would like his long lost Pikachu stuffed animal back. How sad and adorable at the same time...

So for presents for others, family and friends, the plan is to make the usual cookies and chocolates with the boys. We're adding chocolate covered gummi things (bugs, bears, whatever) to the list. I tried this in November and was very surprised with the pleasing results.
In October, we tried a test batch of homemade marzipan (the almond paste candy) dipped in chocolate. Tried a test batch for our Thanksgiving gathering to see who would appreciate it for Xmas. It looks like I am going to need more almonds!! :)

As my surgery will be scheduled a week before Xmas - and I canNOT believe that I have to wait that long!- I have decided to change the type of cookies we make. This year due to time and labor contraints - even with the slave, er, homeschool labor - we're going to use the icebox cookies recipes. Mix ingredients now, wrap, chill and then bake when I'm ready! No time to test the batches beforehand unfortunately. The lucky and best part is that even the crumbled cookies taste great, eh?

Another part of the homemade gift is soap. I have altogether probably close to fifty pounds ready in several different flavors, a few different type of lavenders, bermamont, unscented and even made chocolate soap with cocoa butter! Smells good, tastes terrible - I am only assuming here, but I am hoping no one tries to eat it by mistake! I *have* heard that I make terrible cheese after someone tried my 'herb cheese' that was really a white lavender scented soap with crushed lavender buds. Unfortunate...