I’m not usually one for making many homemade gifts, other than food, but last year I started experimenting with making bath salts. I don’t think it gets much more relaxing than a nice long soak in a hot bath after a stressful day. Lavender oil is known for promoting relaxation and restful sleep, so lavender bath salts can really enhance the experience.
This comes together relatively quickly and easily, and makes for a practical gift. The recipe I use has Young Living Essential Oil. If you’re using a different brand you may need to use more or less oil, depending on the strength and quality of the oil.
Place the Epsom salt in a large glass or metal mixing bowl. Don’t use plastic because it can absorb the essential oil. Break up any chunks of Epsom salt. Add the essential oil, and mix well.
Spoon into jars, and close them tightly.
Now you can get as creative as you’d like. I kept it relatively simple with just a ribbon and printed labels that I hole punched to get the ribbon through. If you’re more into crafts than I am, I’m sure you can do all kinds of fun things with different ribbons and labels.
This recipe makes seven pint size jars of bath salts, so it works well if you’re making gifts for multiple people. The bath salts are really nice, though, so make sure you keep a jar for yourself as well.
As much as I love Thanksgiving, and all of the food that comes with it, it’s nice to change things up a little the week after. After all of the rich food and dessert last week, something simple is just right this week.
This also seems to be the time of year when things just keep getting busier, so easy meals are very welcome. A Crock Pot meal that’s ready and waiting when I get home is perfect.
I love this recipe for so many reasons. First of all, it’s delicious. It’s also very simple to put together in the morning before work, especially if you do the chopping the night before. The beans don’t have to soak, so that’s one less step. I think it’s reasonably healthy since it’s vegetarian, and doesn’t have packaged ingredients.
Black Bean Soup:
16 oz. (1 pound) dried black beans
2 onions, chopped
2 bell peppers, chopped
½ cup firmly packed fresh cilantro leaves
1 Tbsp salt
1 ½ tsp chili powder
1 ½ tsp cumin
½ tsp pepper
4 cloves garlic, pressed
10 cups water
Rinse beans, and place all ingredients in a large slow cooker. Cover and cook on Low 9 - 10 hours.
The soup is great on it’s own, but it’s also really good topped with diced onion, avocado, or salsa. And it pairs well with cornbread.
I know it’s still a little early by some people’s standards to be sharing Christmas related posts, but I wanted to go ahead and post this one in anticipation of the Christmas shopping so many people will be doing at the end of the week.
I enjoy wrapping Christmas gifts, but I’m very slow at it, so I’m all for skipping a step when possible. I tend to have cat “helpers”, too, so it’s nice not to have constantly take the pen for writing names on tags back from them. Or go get another pen when they take off with the one I was using.
I tried this for the first time last year, and it worked incredibly well, so I’ll be doing it again this year.
Rather than putting tags on the gifts, I just designated a specific wrapping paper for each person we were spending Christmas with. It was really easy to do since I had found paper that was perfect for each of our recipients.
Nick’s mom, Susan, is an extraordinary baker, so she got the cupcake paper.
Nick’s step-dad, Alan, is very into cars; buying old ones and restoring them, so he got the car paper.
Everyone else we spent Christmas with had their own specific paper, too, but you get the idea.
It was super convenient not having to look for tags, or worry about them falling off, or the cats taking them off. And I felt like it made the gift wrapping go a little faster. It also made it really easy when it was time to open presents since we knew exactly who each of ours was intended for just by looking at the paper.
I think everyone liked having their own kind of personalized wrapping paper, too. I’d like to think it added an extra little layer of happiness to the day.
Our friend Alex took a similar approach. She used the same paper for everyone’s gifts, but we each had our own color of ribbon. All of my gifts had green ribbon, Nick’s had red, etc. That also worked really well.
Have you found an easy way to keep track of which gifts are for which person? Or a way to convince your cats that you don’t need their help wrapping?
I’ll leave you with Julie Andrews and My Favorite Things, since it references packages. I know it’s often played as a Christmas song, but I don’t consider it to be. What about you? Do you think of it as a Christmas song?
I think we’ve definitely established that Thanksgiving is absolutely my favorite holiday. I also think Thanksgiving doesn’t get nearly the love it deserves. This is the only Thanksgiving song I’ve been able to find. Fortunately, I love this song! I love the lyrics, and I think Mary Chapin Carpenter has an incredible voice. If my favorite holiday only gets one song, I’m glad it’s this one.
I hope you enjoy it as much as I do, and I hope things are coming together for you to have a wonderful Thanksgiving.
I’m not usually one for making many homemade gifts, other than food, but last year I started experimenting with making bath salts. I don’t think it gets much more relaxing than a nice long soak in a hot bath after a stressful day. Lavender oil is known for promoting relaxation and restful sleep, so lavender bath salts can really enhance the experience.
