Sister Christmas present....

I'm one of five girls and my sisters and I have a bit of a laugh and exchange gifts each Christmas.  Since 2008, we have had certain themes - paper, wood, round and shiny, garden, metal, fabric, rustic/outdoors and this years doozy...

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Easy, right?

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Here we are celebrating Marilyn and Janine's birthday s in October.  Here's what we came up with...

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My sister, Leanne is also know as Fred to us. Fred made Fruitcake...

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Sister Sue gave Succulents in a Sow...

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Janine gave Jewellery and a Jar of Joy!

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Marilyn worried about this all year but pulled off the best one - a Mug and Magnet (with our picture on it), Maltesers and a bottle of McGuigan Moscato! 

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I decided Joolz would make and give Jam - what else fits the criteria?

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Starting back in November, I made Dried Apricot Jam...

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...then Cherry Jam...

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...Spiced beetroot and apple jam...

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...and Kiwi fruit jam.

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Then I had to wrap them and make sure all points were covered in the brief!

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So, we have no two colours the same, a button or a tag used...
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I found the fabrics in Spotlight...

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...add some green if you must!
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I thought the buttons were cute!
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Cellophane makes any gift look fancy!

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Add a tag and Tah dah!

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I didn't get much baking done this year - Choc candy cane cookies, some cherry short breads...

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...choccy puddings...

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...and cherry ripe balls.

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Last night I prepared tacos (I made the flour tortillas from scratch, they're under the bought taco shells). It was nice to be able to sit outside and it wasn't hot, cold, windy or nasty - just right.

Kirby and Nate are here and Brianna gets home again tonight so we'll celebrate New Years together down at the beach tomorrow night.

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We have visitors for dinner tonight so I'll be busy preparing salads and stuff this afternoon but it's off to work first!

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Cheers - Joolz xx