Simple gifts.

 

Hooray for Christmas! 

And Hooray for Christmas being over so I can

 share the fruits of the annual 

Hinckley-Holiday-Homemade-Gift-Spectacular!!

If you've been around Small Works during Christmas past, you may know that some years ago our family decided to cope with the budget constraints of young adults by making our gifts for each other.  Over the years they have ranged from the silly to the sentimental, but they are always the favorite packages under the tree, eagerly anticipated and created under closely guarded secrecy (except when people consult Mom for technical support, which seems to happen frequently).

This year's gifts were another round of wonderful, and so without further ado, here's a peek at our Christmas morning fun:

Chelsea kicked things off with some Lady-Gaga-inspired eyewear, personalized to reflect the interests and personality of each recipient . . .

Russ got Cooper-related specs that fit snazzily over his existing glasses

 

 My lenses were flanked with whirls of color

  Lindsay's glasses sported an easel and a set of  paint brushes

Chelsea's glasses were a Florida tribute of sorts, a perfect reminder of family weekends at Siesta Key

Hannah's love of all things owl came home to roost on a pair of smart-looking feathered specs

The Hinckley clan can at last get their collective Gaga on, thanks to Chelsea's creativity!

Lindsay created a family puzzle (unfinished, of course -- plenty of room for future pieces!), with a hanger on the back of each piece so that everyone could take their piece home and hang it on their wall . . .

  a sweet reminder that we are all part of something bigger.

 Unfortunately, the artist left her own piece at home, so it isn't included in the picture . . .

Russ made everyone a shirt, personalized with favorite family movie quotes (each shirt containing a different collection, selected for the individual, of course!)

We can now be an official, even-more-annoying walking lexicon of movie quips and quotes. We have uniforms.

I made Russ the first (and ONLY) piece of Small Works' Neckwear (fun! festive! fabulous!),

for which I had hoped to find a knit tie but instead found, to my dismay, that those were popular last year but were nowhere to be found this year. 

So I had to make do with a textured paisley, which was difficult to stitch on and which yielded so-so results. Anyway, I was terribly impressed that he went off to church yesterday with sequins on his tie.  Seriously true love.

In one of my dumbest moves of the season, I painstakingly photographed my gifts for the girls before wrapping them, and then promptly (and permanently!) deleted the photos on Christmas eve, a fact I only remembered in the middle of the movie I attended today.  Rats.  I made Lindsay a collaged pendant and Hannah a collaged ring, and then I made each of the girls several rings from stacked antique buttons.  (Luckily, Hannah is still here and by plundering her room I was able to find hers and snap a picture.) 

Awesome pukey-green wool that Hannah brought me from the Goodwill near her school. 

Further evidence that I trained her right in some things!.

I made the rings on some really lovely sterling blanks, and was quite pleased with the outcome.  I only wish I could have kept the original photos, showing all 8 of them.

Hannah created tech-gadget cozies in a variety of shapes and sizes for her sisters, and a pencil cup for Russ,  using a Laura Ashley sweater purchased on a family trip to London that unfortunately never fit any of us, and pieces from a sweater that belonged to Russ' father (who passed away a few years ago).

For the slightly tech-impaired (ME), she made a wonderful drawing, beautifully matted and framed and just begging to be hung on a studio wall:

"Do These Thoughts Make Me Look Fat?", Hannah Hinckley, 2010

All in all  it was yet another wonderful morning of fun spent opening gifts and laughing together.  My favorite kind of day.  

 Russ and Cooper, all Christmased out

 Hannah and Frida

 Jake and Chelsea Reynolds

 

 Lindsay and Jackson

Thanks, family, for your amazing ability to make me the happiest Christmas morning mom on the planet.  Or perhaps in the universe.  

Strong words, I know.  

But I REALLY liked your gifts.