Homemade Holiday Gifts

DEBORAH CROMBIE: My family has never been particularly crafty.  Um, actually, we were what I would call craft-impaired. Nor were we bakers, apart from my mom’s famous pies, and my grandmother’s Snickerdoodles. For years my parents sent Texas fruitcakes (better than they sound!) to their business customers, and as far as personal and family gifts, there was not a homemade thing to be found. But my mom and I loved real British-style orange marmalade, so imagine our delight when one year we discovered we could buy real Seville oranges in a tin, perfect for making marmalade. All you add is sugar and water.

Cue the trip to Williams Sonoma for the oranges (decades pre-Amazon, obviously), the pretty half pint jars, the ribbons, and the labels. In my memory, the kitchen is warm and filled with the smell of cooking oranges.

We kept this up for several years, and I don’t remember now why we stopped. I’ve made quite a few things for Christmas presents since; my cranberry relish, real old-fashioned deep dark gingerbread, soup mixes, even candles! Last year I made a few friends some Golden Milk mix (turmeric, other spices, coconut powder) and gave those jars with pretty mugs.

This year, however, I discovered that those Seville oranges are available online, so, bingo! I’ll let you know if the marmalade is as good as I remember.

Reds, have you given homemade gifts? What was your most successful

RHYS BOWEN: Ma Made! We’ve made marmalade many times with it! I love homemade gifts but for everyone these days it’s a question of time. I did it a lot when we had little kids and were hard up. I made one daughter a rainbow quilt. I made hand puppets. I used to love knitting sweaters when grandchildren were toddlers. Recently I’ve made semi previous bead bracelets. This year I have hand made gifts for one daughter but I can’t tell you what as she might read this!

LUCY BURDETTE: Can you hear hoots of hysterical laughter? That’s me! How about a handwritten book--a mystery!-- for Christmas?? All kidding aside, I used to sew a lot and produced many gifts that way. But last time I pulled out my mother’s old Singer machine, I couldn’t even get the bobbin threaded. So that will have to wait until I retire from writing. I do love to bake, and I will be making the traditional yellow cake with caramel frosting and some sugar cookies and maybe a chocolate cake too. Oh, and I did make a couple of photo books but cannot say more…

HALLIE EPHRON: Boy would I LOVE it if someone gave me homemade marmalade! (My father-in-law used to stir a spoonful of marmalade into hot tea. I think having it that way is very Russian.)

I did spend yesterday in the kitchen. I made “Tipsy Turtle Bark” (recipe from Epicurious) -- layers of dark chocolate, toasted pecans, and caramel spiked with booze. Easy peasy. And chocolate covered orange rind - a labor of love for my husband who adores dark chocolate and orange. And a brisket which I’ll serve with potato pancakes. Today I’m making hazelnut biscotti… and beds. My daughters and son-in-law and grandkids are arriving this weekend. 

I love to cook but I can’t hold a candle to Lucy’s fancy baking (or vegetabling: she once gave me the BEST homemade pickles ever), and I’m a mess at handcrafts (short attention span, inattention to detail…) But I have stockpiled sequins, glue, construction paper, stickers, and glittery pipe cleaners so the grandkids can make “ornaments” for my potted Norfolk pine. 

DEBS: Hallie, your candy looks fabulous! (We will all be sending you our mailing addresses!!) I have got to try the chocolate oranges!


JENN McKINLAY: Crafter, here! I think I’ve done it all -- baked the cookies, made the relish, painted the picture, cross stitched the sampler, knitted the afghan, made the cinnamon scented ornaments (this is done with cinnamon and glue - perfect for kids), and made the peppermint bark (every year). I love giving homemade gifts and I love getting homemade gifts. They just mean more, at least to me. And I definitely prefer consumable gifts because they don’t take up any more space!

This year I’m making fire starters. It’s a pine cone with a cotton thread wrapped around it, dipped in scented wax. Once the wax hardens, you light the wick and put them on the kindling and as they burn they start the fire with a nice burst of scent. I like peppermint.

JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: I adore getting homemade gifts, but haven’t made any in years. I’m just not together-enough to plan far enough ahead to make something. I still have a needlepoint pillow I was making for Ross’s law school graduation in 1986 unfinished. (I’m hoping Youngest goes to the same law school, then I’ll have motivation to finish it!)

I do receive some lovely homemade gifts each year that I cherish (and gobble down.) One friend makes the most delicious chocolate-covered toffee, and another has a delicious cranberry chutney I look forward to every holiday. More people should make chutney! I got a lemon cake from friend-of-the-Reds Celia Wakefield, and have so far resisted cutting into it. The most unusual gift comes from a friend whose family owns a cherry orchard in Michigan - a jar of cherries in vodka.  That’s a gift that keeps on giving.

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: Um, yeah, this is lovely and so adorable and I am in awe and so full of admiration.   Dark chocolate and firestarters and  afghans yes, so completely fabulous. But on, no, no I have not craftiness or baking or candy thermometers. BUT you are all so inspirational to this craft-impaired but awestruck Red!  Send chutney. Send firestarters. I am craft-impaired but SO impressed.  

DEBS: Julia, I'm with you on the chutney. I LOVE chutney. Maybe next year...  And, Jenn, I love the fire starter idea. That is so clever.

I think, in fact, that we are a clever bunch. But I have to confess that although I bought the oranges and the adorable little jam jars, I have yet to make the marmalade. Too bad because I was going to add a photo of all those pretty filled jars! Maybe tomorrow...



How about you, dear readers? Do you make gifts? And what has been YOUR biggest success?