Hello 2010, Come On In!

Hello 2010, I have been waiting for you! I knew you would get here eventually. You just had to go about it in your own way. Well I have a spot all made up for you. You can even stay a year if you want to.

These were my homemade gifts to my family and close friends this year. I made two quart sized soup mixes.

Then I added applesauce, plum jelly, pear or peach butter and jalepeno jelly.

We put them together in assembly line fashion. A slow assembly line. These graced my dining room table for over a week waiting for the point when I could make the fudge to add to the matching tins.

The presentation was nice but the trays themselves flexed when you picked it up so I hot glued every jar to the tray and then used basket wrap and a blow dryer to shrink the wrapping. It didn't fix the problem but who complains about home made gifts. At least it isn't done out loud.

They turned out all right. Next year I am going to find some kind of boxes to put them in. Maybe 1/2 sized wooden crates. They will be a lot more secure that way. I think every one liked their gifts. I made 12 of them and it took a lot of time but it seems more fitting for me to give of my garden than spend so much time and money on things they probably won't ever use. Been there, done that.