Life Update and Simple, DIY Gift Idea: December 2024

I don’t know why, but I have been so nervous to post my first life update on this blog. It is much easier to publish articles about general topics that I am passionate about or interested in, rather than post about how real life is going and send it out into the internet void. However, a big reason I wanted to get into blogging was to document this time in my life, especially now that I am social media-free. Not so much for other people to see, but so someday I can look back at old posts and reminisce on the good old days, just as I would with a much-beloved family photo album. I hope to be more dedicated about posting and keeping up with this blog in the New Year, but why not start now, on a random Wednesday in the middle of December?

Life has been full of high highs and low lows for the past few weeks, and time has been flying by at a pace I can’t seem to keep up with. I have been busy (as most are this time of year) preparing for Christmas and throwing together some homemade gift baskets for family and friends. I had hoped to do an entire blog post dedicated to DIY Christmas gift ideas but I think the time for that has already passed. So perhaps I’ll save those ideas for the next holiday season - I know it will be here again in no time! However, I will go ahead and share what I did for gift baskets this year. I am happy with how they turned out and excited to give them away!

I have been loving getting into crochet in the past year. I don’t crochet regularly, but rather I practice in spurts every couple of months. I have to wait until I have mentally gathered an appropriate amount of patience to attempt a new project, and sometimes it takes me a while to feel ready for that! For these gift baskets, I found a super fun and easy (and FREE) tutorial on YouTube by Sigoni Macaroni. I’ll link it here: https://youtu.be/jyu7cPfrL7I?si=49UQTNuUEZeRGFxA

In the basket, I am putting a jade plant (propagated from my own plant that I’ve had since I was 9, lovingly named “Goliath”) in a repurposed yogurt jar, a mason jar of buttermilk pancake mix, a small bottle of maple syrup, and will be adding a few birdseed ornaments that I plan to make with my toddler next week. Other than the crocheted basket (which I usually finish in about an hour during nap time), I love that these gifts have been easy to get my two-year-old involved with putting together. I hope family and friends will love them, as I have truly enjoyed the process of putting them together.

Other than that, time has been filled with dog sitting for a friend, local holiday events, watching lots of football and Christmas movies, playing on the swings overlooking the snowy sagebrush, and doing plenty of crafts. My favorite kid-friendly craft lately was this heavenly-smelling homemade gingerbread play dough by Darcy and Brian. It was a huge hit for myself and my child, and I love how it can be saved and used again and again.

Last year at this time we were living in Forest Service housing and anxiously awaiting the delivery of our new home (haha you read that right, we live in a doublewide manufactured home that arrived on wheels) which we are now all settled into. It is crazy how much life can change in just one year, isn’t it? Even though it may not be the dream home, we absolutely love where we live and are so grateful for it. Eventually I think we will build our own home and maybe even have some land, but I envision us staying where we are for a long time as we grow our family.

I hope everyone is enjoying a beautiful holiday season and staying warm and cozy wherever you are, and thank you from the bottom of my heart for taking the time to read this.

Until next time,

Kori 💛