Non-Knitting Xmas

It feels like the past few weeks have been a total whirlwind, and it's only going to get worse until after Xmas, I know. The knitting is still done (!) but I really need a plan for when I'm going to get them blocked and photographed.

But that's not a worry for this week. This week, I'm putting together non-knitting Xmas presents for my old college friends. I tend to get pretty stressed over mass presents like this-I want things that seem more thoughtful than mass-produced, and sustainability and environmentalism are important to me, so I really don't want to give someone a tchotchke that will just need to get thrown out eventually, and I don't want to buy something new when there's plenty of good stuff already out there.

Enter my Great Plan. Everyone likes mason jars, right? And the only thing better than a mason jar is....

A mason jar full of homemade hot cocoa mix!! And the only thing better than that?

TACKY XMAS MUGS.

Seriously. I went to the thrift store in town, which was (serendipitously) having a 1/2 off sale, and got all seven mugs, plus 2 yards of that red checkered fabric. And after packaging everything up, I still have plenty of fabric left over for at least another two years of mason jar gifts. Then I loaded up on ingredients for cocoa mix and started going to town.

Boom. Everyone gets something to open, a delicious snack, and handy storage jar, and a nice addition to their tacky Xmas mug collection. And I even had some mix over for us to keep here.