Handcrafters' holiday meme, part 2 (AKA, Better late than never!)

Although I'm a little late, I'm finishing up some of the questions from the Sew, Mama, Sew meme.

What is your favorite family holiday tradition?

So many...my favorite one that is carried over from my family of origin is the Christmas eve pizza dinner. My mom always had tons of cooking to do for Christmas day, so Christmas eve dinner needed to be simple. What to do? Homemade, everyone helps out, pizza! Being a working mom in the midst of the canned foods revolution that swept the Midwest in the 60's, our pizza then came from a mix...dough from a box, sauce from a can, pre-shredded Mozzarella, pepperoni slices, and a few fresh veggies.

Now, with my family, I make the dough, everyone who wants helps spread it (that's the hardest part, so often it's just me and maybe DD). Then we each pile on our favorites...choosing from mozzarella, cheddar, feta cheese, homemade pesto,(usually) homemade sauce, lots of veggies, and maybe some fake ground beef or sausage.

I love how it brings us together in a low-stress way to share a great, low-key meal. When the kids were younger, it was also a great activity to occupy them as the moments till Christmas morning d..r..a..g..g..e..d by.

Have you started any new traditions with your family that you didn’t practice growing up?

We make a "Feast for the Animals." (However, this may be the last year for that, as we've discovered that we need to come up with some new traditions as the kids become young adults.) T. and I like it, though. We string up popcorn and cranberries, and put out fruit, nuts, and so on, for the birds and squirrels.

If you’re making gifts this year, what are you making?

Now I can tell you about them! A bag for DD's new yoga mat, along with a yoga eye bag, and a yoga blanket. The bag pattern is from Fig and Plum, the eye bag is a knitted rectangle with a muslin bag inside filled with flax seed and my home-grown lavender, and the blanket is just fleece on one side, with fabrics pieced together on the other side, mostly from my stash.

I also made two hot water bottle cozies for the daughters of friends, in exchange for an acupuncture treatment (I love bartering!). The cozies are made from sleeves of an old sweater, slightly felted, and embellished with homemade Fimo clay buttons and other sweater, fabric, and fleece scraps.

More holiday photos, including some from Toronto (which I'll write about next!), here.