Homemade Christmas, the Mud Room and Food Storage

{Bay Leaf Wreath}

Last year we had a Homemade Christmas. I had wanted to do it for a long time. Turns out it was a LOT of pressure. In my usual form, I procrastinated till the last minute and then didn't get everything done that I wanted to do. Also, I didn't get pictures of most of the things I made.

Some of the gifts were surprising. Those who thought they couldn't make anything came up with some great gifts. Frank made me a fleece blanket and a Texans cap/coat rack for Marc. Stephanie made Marc monogrammed socks (he goes through socks like crazy) and me a gift basket with home made bath products. Caroline made me a turquoise necklace and Marc a Texans fleece blanket. These are just some of the great gifts that were exchanged.

{View of Mudroom from Kitchen}

When we built the mud room we originally thought we would build cabinets on one wall. We decided against that and so Marc made me a large cabinet to be used as a pantry. It was my Christmas gift from him last year. It's quite large (about 3 feet wide and 7 feet tall and 2 feet deep). I use it for overflow pantry storage (since I don't have a proper pantry) and some small appliances that I don't use very often. I also store home canned items in it. I quickly filled it up, so he made another one for me this Christmas. I knew he was building it but one day I walked thru the mud room to do some laundry and when I came out I was shocked to see that he had moved the extra refrigerator out to the shed and moved the cabinet in. I had totally missed it as I walked past it several times.

{Mudroom}

{2010 Cabinet}

I've got wheat and my Excalibur wheat grinder in this cabinet, as well as some small appliances like the bread machine and crock pots, sugar, home canned foods, etc.

{2011 Cabinet}
In the new cabinet, Marc built the shelves a little closer together so I can get more smaller items stored. The very top shelf is lower on the front and higher in the back and has a lip on the front, so that I can put cans on it and they will roll forward. I have 4 cases of canned goods on this shelf already and there's room for more. I have rice, oats, beans, and more stored in this cabinet. I organized everything and took an inventory of what I had in there. I was surprised to see just how much I had stored, but there's still room for more. I've been shopping sales and stockpiling sale items and it adds up pretty quickly. After Christmas I'll do a post about home food storage or "stockpiling".

Marc even went in my craft room and found some Christmas stamps and even hand made gift cards: