Homemade Christmas Exchange

A couple years ago we decided to try something different for Christmas...abandon all the stressful, superficial Christmas shopping in favor of something a little more meaningful. In my family, we decided to forego the gift exchange altogether. No one has to shop or stress or rack up their credit cards. Instead, we each agreed to make a donation to a charity or a cause that we wanted to support.

In my husband's family, we decided to do a themed gift exchange. Last year we did a “buy local” theme…this year we did a “homemade” theme. Both were equally fun. Each person brought one gift to exchange. You had to make your own gift. We knew about it a year in advance so we had all year to work on it. During the gift exchange, we drew numbers and made a game out of it…you could steal gifts from each other, steal them back, etc. I discovered that it is a lot of fun to put time and thought into creating your gifts, and even more fun to see the unique talents of the family emerge in a showcase of all the different gifts.

I decided to put together a collection of some of my canned goods, and add some different jar mixes for soups and cookies. I found some recipes for chunky chocolate cookie mix, rainbow bean soup mix, and love soup mix. The following is what I started out with.

Ingredients for Jar Mixes

JAR CHUNKY CHOCOLATE COOKIE MIX

3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 ¾ cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 cup cocoa
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup chopped pecans
¼ teaspoon salt
1 cup jumbo chocolate chips

Mix together the flour, baking soda and baking powder and salt. Set aside. Layer ingredients in order in a 1 quart wide mouth canning jar. Use the bottom of a small clean juice glass and press each layer firmly in place. It will be a tight fit. NOTE: Wipe down the inside of the jar after you add the cocoa powder. Use scissors to cut a 9 inch-diameter circle from calico. Place over lid and secure with rubber band. Tie on a raffia or ribbon bow to cover rubber band. Label and store in a cool dry place away from a heat source so condensation and clumping does not occur. Attach this recipe to the jar:

CHUNKY CHOCOLATE COOKIES (attach this recipe to the jar)

Empty jar of cookie mix into a large mixing bowl. Use your hands to thoroughly blend mix. ADD:
3/4 cup butter or margarine softened at room temp. DO NOT USE MARGARINE
1 egg, slightly beaten 1 teaspoon vanilla
Mix until completely blended. The dough is sticky. you will need to finish mixing with your hands. Shape into walnut size balls and place 2 inches apart on parchment lined baking sheets. DO NOT USE WAXED PAPER. Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 11 to 13 minutes . Cool 5 minutes on baking sheet. Remove to racks to finish cooling. Makes 3 dozen cookies.


Love Soup Mix in a Jar
"Makes a wonderful gift for a new bride-to-be, a friend under the weather, or just to say thanks! And it tastes great, too! Decorate the jar with a fabric lid and/or a bow tied around the neck. Be sure to attach the cooking instructions to the jar. "

18 cubes beef bouillon
¼ cup barley
1/4 cup dried minced onion
½ cup dry lentils
1/2 cup dried split peas
1/3 cup long-grain white rice
1/2 cup uncooked twist macaroni
1 cup uncooked tri-color spiral pasta

Use a canning funnel or any funnel that has about a 2-inch neck. This will make it easier to fill the jars with the ingredients. Be sure to use a wide-mouth, 1-quart canning jar. Layer ingredients in the order given: bouillon, onion flakes, split peas, small shape pasta, barley, lentils, rice, and enough tricolor spiral pasta to fill jar.

Attach tag with cooking instructions: In large kettle, brown 1 pound ground beef or stew beef cut into bite-size pieces in a little olive oil. Remove tricolor pasta from top of jar and reserve. Add the rest of the jar contents to the kettle with 12 cups water. Let come to a boil and simmer 45 minutes. Add tricolor pasta and simmer 15 minutes more. Serve with your favorite bread or rolls and a tossed salad.

I found the rainbow bean soup recipe here: http://www.food.com/recipe/rainbow-bean-soup-mix-in-a-quart-jar-107349

I assembled the jar mixes using the instructions in the recipes above, then wrote out and attached the instructions and decorated the jars:


Soup Jar Mixes



Decorated Jar Mixes



My Homemade Christmas Gift: Jar Mixes Plus Peaches, Salsas, and Jellies



Magnetic Spice Rack

There is a spice rack on amazon.com that I once showed my husband, and he took the idea and crafted his own hand-painted, wood-framed magnetic spice rack. It is a masterpiece!

This spice rack went home with my brother-in-law, and my canned goods went home with my sister-in-law.

We left our Christmas gathering with some beautiful gifts. I got a basket of my sister-in-law’s organic vegetable-enriched pasta sauce, raspberry chardonnay salsa, spicy pepper pickles, multicolor durum wheat semolina pasta, and a bottle of white wine.



My husband got his brother’s masterpiece...a framed collection of nature photos, each photo depicting one letter from their last name, matted and framed by my husband’s brother. Even the wood frame was homemade. This was the most popular present.

The Collection of Nature Photos

Other homemade gifts included quilts, blankets, beef jerky, cheese, ice cream, furniture, and more. Everyone used their unique talents and materials available to them. For example, my sister-in-law, who runs a dairy farm with her husband, used the milk from their farm to make a collection of cheese and ice cream.

For me, these gift exchanges have been much more meaningful than going to the mall and buying a gift. You put some thought, time, and talent into your project and you get all that in return. I think everyone else would agree with me...since we decided to do that homemade gift exchange again next year.