This year has been so hectic for our family. In January I started an accelerated full-time nursing program. We are also expecting another precious little girl. Needless to say, it has been a whirlwind of stress and emotion. My husband handles it all so well. In the past I always found little ways to show him how much I appreciate him and not just on special occasions. This year (when he has helped the most) I feel like I really let that part of our relationship slide. Well, it's Christmas time and we always exchange gifts but I thought this year I would do something really special for him. It's the 12 days of Christmas. I started on the 13th and each day I am giving him a little gift that corresponds to that number. I also add a little tag that says "On the (whatever day it is??) day of Christmas, my true love gave to me..." with some goofy Christmas clipart. For day one I give him one thing, day two I give him two things, day twelve I give him twelve things... you get it. Some are nice gifts and some are really small but it has been a lot of fun so far trying to get these gifts to him without him catching me.
So, for day one I gave him one great T-shirt. On the second day I gave him a pair of gloves. Yesterday was the third day so I got him Battlefield 3 for the PS3. I'm pretty sure I will regret that one but he was excited about it and that's what I was going for. Apparently, you play this one with a squad so he has to get on when his buddies are online and they fight battles together. Yeah... whatever. I don't think it could be any worse than COD but we'll see. I felt like he was gone for the first few weeks Modern Warfare came out but this last time he wasn't so bad. I'm really thinking I should have given him a 3-pack of golf balls or something instead. Oh well. Anyway, it took him until last night to figure out what I was doing. He asked, "So do I actually get a gift all 12 days?" My answer? "If you're good!" ;)
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| Oklahoma shirt from Unlabeled |
Sometimes he works 24 hour shifts and he leaves before 5:30am. Ugghh! So I have to get his gift ready and put it somewhere he will see it in the morning but not the night before. It has been a challenge. So far, I have just put them in his truck when he isn't paying attention (like when he is playing his stupid PS3. Today is the fourth day so I gave him a 4-pack of snacks. I used Starbucks frappaccino bottles, removed the labels, washed them really well and used scrapbook paper to cover the little carrier and add detail to the bottles. I basically made a template for the box and just cut strips of paper to wrap around the bottles. I also used a circle punch for the bottle tops. Mine was 1.5" but I think they look just a little on the small side. I secured everything with double-sided photo stickers that are used for scrapbooking.
This is what I ended up with! I think they're pretty cute. I would have preferred the mocha frappaccino light bottles because the caps are blue but I don't think Nic would drink those. I thought about posting a template but I'm really not that computer savvy. Anyway, you could really fill them with anything but I chose puppy chow, caramel popcorn, trail mix (with cranberries- his fave) and a spicy chex party mix. Now that I have all these snacks I'm thinking I probably should have filled all the bottles with the same thing. I could always take them to a party (or just eat the puppy chow myself- hmmmm...) What do you think? 
