Let's Look - Gifts I've Loved Both Giving and Receiving

Happy, happy Wednesday!!! Well, I accidentally wrote a December Let's Look in November, but I thought I'd still share because I always think it's fun thinking about gifts, and if maybe you're looking for a gift that's a little more personalized, hopefully it will give you time to think and plan a little! 

If you are in the process of starting to brainstorm and would like a little podcast to listen to, I can't recommend enough "Thoughtful Gift-Giving When Budget Are Tight" from Kendra, The Lazy Genius. She does such a great job at brainstorming lots of different fun and creative ideas for gifts. I thought it went right along with this post and this month as well!! Ok, here are just a few of mine that came to mind... 

And this little homemade Christmas magic came to mind first... I wrote a little bit more about this here, but my sweet mom had ALWAYS talked about these white wooden reindeer for her front yard, and one year, Pierce and I decided to make it happen hahaha It was honestly a bit of an undertaking...but one that we loved and are *oh* so glad we ventured to do it before kids hahaha 

I found the pattern online here (it seems they have added a tiny set of plans for "table top" reindeer that are oh so cute hahaha and I found someone who makes similar ones on Etsy here!!), but Pierce and I got to work at the start of Christmas break...

The sweetest family let us borrow their garage one Christmas break night and use their jigsaw and cutting knowledge to transfer the pattern and cut out the wood as we snacked on Christmas cookies and listened to Christmas music... 

It was definitely a family effort, but by the end of the night, we left with two wooden reindeer that were just left to paint, somehow wrap and travel to Louisville with! 

We spent the next few nights painting, and I think if we had to do it again, we might use a paint sprayer because we learned a lot about those little grooves where the pieces fit together haha 

But when all was said and done, I wrapped the antlers up for my mom's gift... 

And on Christmas morning, when she opened her gift, these guys were out in the yard...

They were so fun to make and with a little dusting of snow on Christmas day, they seemed even more magical, and we love seeing them every year!! This was definitely one of our favorite gifts we've given my mom... 

Another just favorite favorite gift is this sweet book my sister gave me last Christmas. It's from Wonderbly, and I just cannot recommend it enough. 

She personalized it with their names and ages and little characteristics... 

And I just cried opening it and reading it!! 

It tells the perfect story and is SO cute. They have other books online that you can personalize, and I just love them so, so much! What a sweet gift!!! 

These photo cubes were also a favorite to give. I made them for Pierce one summer for Father's Day and you can read all about them here, but you can also find them on Etsy here too, and they are just the best little gifts. He always had them out on his desk at work and a co-worker asked where he got them to buy one for his wife. The best!! 

These all go hand-in-hand, but all are just sweet and thoughtful. The first is one we gave to Pierce's dad on his birthday from all of the kids/couples, the second is a gift Pierce made with a few of my close friends, and the third is a gift we gave to a co-leading couple of our small group who were moving. They are simple, can be bought on Etsy or made online and are just fun to give and receive. 

This was a favorite gift that a sweet girl in Nashville did for us back in 2018. We stayed in this little cottage for our honeymoon, and having a watercolor of it is truly so special. I know there are plenty of Etsy shops that do this, and I just love a gift like this so much! 

This is another Etsy favorite. We gifted this to my sweet sister the year she became an Aunt and another to a favorite family in Nashville of their sweet fam, and I love these little simple wooden gifts so much too! 

This is a favorite that we gave to my dad. We found it at Christmas Village one year, and it was too fun not to buy. We met the guy who makes all of these at The Stadium Shoppe and were so impressed by him! This is the Tampa Bay Buccaneers Stadium, and it came with a stand and a little light that comes on in the stadium. It's such a fun and unique piece!!

You can find all of his NFL 3D Stadium replicas here, but on his site, he has all the ballparks and college stadiums and so much more too! We loved supporting his business and my dad loves having this in his office - a favorite for sure. 

And last but not least, by now everyone knows how much I love Zazzle.com and how many things you can make on their website, but these playing cards are just a very favorite to give and to receive. We have many a decks in our home, and I'm pretty sure most of our family have many decks we have gifted haha But these two are special because the first was a little one I made for Pierce of Jane's hands playing the piano at her first Christmas, and the second is one I took of Jane and Andy playing last Christmas. 

They are just sweet and fun and you can make them so special too!! 

And there you have it... Just a few gifts that I've loved both giving and receiving!! Do you have favorites?! I'd love to hear too!! And as for today's actual Let's Look of Showing Gratitude... 

This is a favorite in our house!! Our Thankfulness Turkey. It's actually on our list to put up today, so Jane is SO excited!! It's a sweet way for us all to visualize and add things and people we are thankful for. Last year, Jane wanted to add so many feathers, we were running out of room hahaha 

November and December are just sweet months. Filled with lots of thankfulness and lots of joy. Thanks for following along in this little journey over here. And thanks Shay and Erika for the fun blog link-up series. I'll plan on seeing you back here tomorrow! 

Sending lots of love!

And here's to the start of the Christmas season!!
XO
Tab