Inexpensive Thank You Christmas Gift Idea

A simple and easy "homemade" gift to give to teachers or others that deserve a little "Thank You" gift this Christmas time is the time honored Candy In a Jar.

Everything I used to make these, for my youngest two daughter's Sunday school teachers, I had on hand- except for the M-n-M's.

We used to run a hand crafted soap and body care business and I have a few odd jars left over from that time.  I used a square jar with a cork lid but any shape will do and if you can't find anything with a lid a wad of tissue paper will work nicely.  Garage sales and thrift stores are great places to look for containers but craft stores and supermarkets will usually have something too.

We sorted the M-n-M's by color- something all the kids enjoyed helping with- by dumping our Costco sized bag onto a cookie sheet and grouping them into piles. Then we carefully filled the jar by the rainbow... ROY G BIV (Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, Violet) and sealed it up.

 

Next I tied some wire-edged ribbon around the jar.

 

 

And attached a little thank you note with string and a hole punch.

 

Simple, pretty, and inexpensive!  It works with a lot of different types of candies and can be adapted to other holidays and occasions.  Being thoughtful doesn't have to break the bank.

They're Here!!!

My Mommy and Daddy are visiting! They faithfully come every summer for a month all the way to Grand Rapids from Seattle. We love having them here.  When we were renting they stayed at a campground about a mile away from where we lived but now that we have land they just pull their RV around back and hook up to our electricity and water.  We still haven't figured how to hook up sewer but there is another campground about a mile away where they could dump if needed. (We seem to live by campgrounds.)

My mom and dad are continually downsizing and every year they bring more things our way.  This year my mom brought me a wonderful family heirloom... a quilt that my grandmother (my dad's mom) and her sister's worked on with their church in the 1940's.  My dad thinks it was made by the Lutheran Ladies Aux. of Underwood, ND sometime before his family moved to the west coast.  The best part is that my great-aunts and my grandmother have signed it!  I am so pleased to have it and can't wait to pass it down through to the next generation. 

 The quilt

 

 Aunt Hannah

 

 Aunt Ida

 

Grandma (Mrs.  Frieda Schuh)

Flowers and salads!

Last night's dandelion and lilac salad was a success!  I will not be facing church discipline or excommunication. I don't know that people will be rushing to recreate it any time soon but everyone tried it and found it surprisingly good.  Everyone but Farmer John.  Turns out that he doesn't like the smell of lilacs (You think I would know this after 20 years.) and "they taste just like they smell."  After he was finished eating there was a little pile of lilac petals on the side of his plate.  Seems the dandelions were fine for him though.  Next time I'll sneak dandelion greens into it too.  I only did the flower heads last night.

Regular vege salad with the addition of edible flowers: Lilacs and Dandelions.

I also used my available flowers in a more traditional sense.

 Dandelions flower heads floating in a shallow bowl of water.

Lilacs as the centerpiece of the table.

The other in season item I used for the evening was rhubarb from my garden in a yummy rhubarb crumble topped with homemade vanilla custard!

My rhubarb earlier this spring.

 

It is so much fun to "use what you've got" and be creative rather then running to the store and buying something.

The only downer to the night was the over abundance of mosquitoes that chased us off the deck and indoors for the evening.  Bat houses, homemade natural mosquito sprays and itch remedies will be fodder for another blog post.

Moving!

No... not me, us or this blog.  We are just about out the door to help our fellow church member and missionary, Dr. Troy Manning, move into his new home.  "Mr." Troy is a translator at Bibles International, based in Grand Rapids.  He will live here in the States and travel as needed.  We are excited to get to help him set up his new home!

Weekend fun on and off the homestead

We spent a good portion of the weekend with our friends the Hall family. The DH and Mr. Hall work together at Costco. Our families are similar size, age, like the same things and have similar values and goals. We always have a good time together. Saturday we invited them over for a picnic and bonfire.

Butterfly watching

I saw a cute enamel tray at the store made for carrying picnic supplies and I almost bought it. Then the little budget angel sat on my shoulder and told me that surely I had something at home that would work. I did! My roasting pan! It's not white enamel but other than that they are almost identical.

Instead of buying campfire wood, we had the kids go out back into the field and scavenger for wood. You should have seen their faces when they came back dragging someone's old Christmas tree. They hit the mother load!

End of the night as the flames die down

We had brief periods of intermittent rain. But we had the umbrellas handy.

Even with the rain, we still had a beautiful sunset.

Costco had a family bowling party on Sunday night. We paid $6 (for shoes) for the entire family. Not bad for 3 games of bowling for 6 people, pizza, salad, dessert and soda. Costco treats its employees well. (I love how the littles are fascinated by the ball rack.)

Rem in action

Taylor sitting with Gabriella Hall. They were the littlest of our group. Gabriella is 3 and bowled. Taylor at 1 1/2 did not.

Andi being silly with Autumn Hall

Reagan in action

Andi, Autumn Hall, and Seven (our teen representitives)

John (the DH) in action

Cooking For a Crowd- Inside Out Turkey Cheese Burgers!

These are a great healthy option to serve at your next cook out.

Inside-out Turkey Cheese Burgers (Serves 6- enlarge as needed)

2 lbs of ground turkey

1/4 cup of ketchup

1 TBSP Dijon mustard

1 tsp garlic powder

1 oz slice of cheese per pattie

Options:

Homemade hamburger buns or other favorite hardy bread

Lettuce leaves

Tomato slices

Pickles

Onions

Any other topping you and yours enjoy!

Mix turkey, ketchup, mustard and garlic powder in a bowl until combined and press into 12 medium, thin patties. Place cheese on six of the patties and then top with remaining patties. Crimp patties shut. (Do this well so no cheese escapes when cooking.) Cook patties with desired method (We grill or pan saute) until cooked thoroughly- about 5 to 7 minutes per side.

This recipe is a family favorite. Everyone likes it! It is quick, easy and healthy. I have my ten year old son mix these up. We finish the meal with a great salad or vege platter and fresh squeezed, homemade lemonade!

Head on over to Life In A Shoe for more Cooking For A Crowd Ideas!

Crushed T12

An update on the missionary that my four year old sweet talked into taking her down the sledding hill. Troy crushed his T12 vertabrae. He is flat on his back right now with 4 to 6 weeks recovery time ahead of him. Currently his best friend is vicodin. I'm going over to help him with lunch today. See what a smile of a cute little girl can do to a grown man. Please keep him in your prayers. He is not used to "resting".