Treats

These are the gifts I'll be giving to coworkers. I packed them in boxes from a Martha Stewart kit I got on sale. The small upright boxes contain popcorn with caramel, butterscotch, & chocolate drizzled on it. In the square & rectangle boxes are: pecan tassies, brownies, more popcorn, wheat crackers, and molasses almonds, all of which I made in a frenzy one night earlier this week. Making cookie boxes is one of my favorite holiday traditions - I really hope these go over well!

The home stretch

Now that it's November, it's time to really focus on my holiday gift crafting! I think this vest, which I finally finished yesterday, is the last really big project on my list - the rest are much smaller in scale, but they are great in number, so I can't rest yet. I'm really pleased with the vest (as long as it turns out to fit the recipient!).

On the right is my Michael's purchase from this weekend. I've been very good about buying yarn this year - in fact I've bought very little - but for the holidays I have some projects that I couldn't complete from my stash, so I waited for a yarn sale and it finally came. Also in the bag is a Martha Stewart kit for packaging the food gifts I'll be giving to my coworkers this year.

Cookie donation

Unfortunately I forgot to take a photo to document this, but I wanted to share it anyway. I haven't done much baking lately and was really craving cookies, so on Friday night I made a whole bunch - 4 dozen *each* of peanut butter chocolate chip and oatmeal raisin. Obviously, more cookies than 2 people can reasonably eat. I gave a plate of them to the doormen of our building, but I still had about 6 dozen left.

Then I remembered the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal, who do a lot of good work in the community (in multiple boroughs, actually). They depend entirely on donations for their meals, so I packed up the cookies and brought them to the friary today. A very sweet young Brother accepted the cookies and we chatted a bit, and I walked home feeling great. I'm glad I took advantage of this spur-of-the-moment opportunity to give a simple gift, especially to such worthy recipients. I'm hoping I'll have time this winter to make some hats to give to their homeless shelter and/or the men's residence they run.