2nd Half of Gift Wrapping Challenge

Okay, where did I leave off... I think Roger is up next.  His gift was for Patty (our younger daughter Pathena, the grandmother of wee Lily, we call her Patty cause most folks butcher her name. )

Patty has for many years collected Santa's, she has a whole house full, so this year she decided to start collecting Christmas trees. She also likes wire art so what better present than a HUGE wire tree decorated with many presents filled with a lovely variety of Christmas trees.  (Guess who I'm hoping gets my name next year!)

Click on the photos for a closer look.  In fact, if you double click you will get an even closer close up....

Patty's gift was for Heather.

Patty recalled when Heather was little she always hoped Santa would bring her a horse... so this year she finally got one.

Isn't he just an absolute delight? He is made of wrapped presents, it was hard to watch him dismantled. This is from the daughter who says she has no talent for making things...

This year Heather drew Eric's name.   Eric seems to inspire who every gets his name.... remember the PEZ?   He also collects penguins (we are a family of collectors, if you are not a collector when you join the family, you soon will be, its a requirement.)  this is a one of a kind addition to his collection..... It's a snow globe.... and it lights up!!  and yes, those are handmade polymer clay penguins.

Eric wrapped a gift for Cory. Eric flew in on the 31st and just made it in time for the gift exchange. He had to have something that was compact and easy to carry on the plane His gift was a Yule Log made from real logs that had been hollowed out.  He confessed he didn't do the hollowing, he purchased the logs at a pet store.... apparently they sell hollowed out logs for pet snakes.. icky!! but they made an elegant package.

If you are following the order here you will recall that Cory gave his gift to Brandon W. at the first party so the next up is Granddad Lynn, his gift is for Brandon L.

 Long ago we made a sacred pact to never let Granddad near a hammer, glue gun, roll of tape, wrapping paper, ribbon.... nothing that requires a modicum of  manual dexterity .... makes us all shutter thinking about it... so he is the one person in the family who is allowed to contract out his gift wrapping chore. Last year I wrapped for him, this year I passed the torch to Heather.

Brandon collects comic books (see, I told you, another collector) and his favorite is Green Lantern so of course his gift is wrapped in the form of a Green Lantern with lights and a handle.  Amazing what can be done with plastic bowls and cups... and a glue gun.  Pretty neat huh?

Brandon's gift was for his brother Nicholas. Brandon is the very worst procrastinator in the family. At 1:00 PM on the 31st he not only hadn't wrapped his gift he hadn't even bought his gift.... his mother and I were verklempted to say the least. We ordered him out the door and threatened him with sever bodily harm if he came back empty handed. Much to our surprise he not only came up with a nice gift he also did a fine job wrapping it.  Will wonders never cease?

Nicholas works in a coffee shop so Brandon made a "to go" coffee container, even put the shop name on the cup and gave it a candy cane stirrer.

Nicholas is up next, he wrapped a gift for Eugene.

 Eugene is a music lover, he collects records and CD's,  his favorite group use to be the Beatles but alas the Beatles have been replaced by a new group "Here come the Mummies" .  Now this Mummy group has a nice beat but "my oh my" the lyrics..... not nice, not nice at all!! I will say nothing more.

Nick cut open a poor little Teddy bear put tickets to a "Mummy" concert inside and wrapped the bear like a mummy....see. Isn't he the sweetest thing?  I just want to hug the poor little critter.

Eugene already gave his gift to Granddad Lynn... so Andrea is up next.

Andrea's gift was for Zachery. She made copies of photos and wrapped his gift.... not bad, but the competition is stiff this year...she promised to do better next year.

Zachery in turn wrapped a gift for Andrea. He was another of our procrastinators... not as bad as Brandon but ran a close second.  He did a darn good job too.

Andrea loves wine, she and Moe would have a great time.  Zachery wrapped her gift as a wine glass and filled it with "fruit" presents.   Came up with the idea all by himself,  he did good!!

That is almost the last of them... just one to go.... the grand prize winner of the coveted Santa Trophy!!

Drum roll please!!!

My sweet son drew my name and wrapped this fantabulous present just for me... made me cry!

Lynn got me a iPad for Christmas so Brad loaded it with games, audio books and songs from the 50's and made a wonderful slide show video featuring photos of the 1st half of my life. He wrapped it in the form of a picture album and used the video like a 50's drive-in theater.  My maiden name is Knight.... hence the "Knight Stories" theme.  Starts from when I was a baby.

Until Lynn and I got married.... and then kids came along. Thats a picture of us with the 2 girls above the slide show on the iPad.

He put a short bio on the inside back cover. 

Here's close up so you can read what it says, You can get a better look by clicking on the photo. (Just so you know, he was teasing his sisters with the comments at the end.)

And on the back cover he printed some of the comments left on my Flickr site. Brad is a stickler for detail... see the "Publisher" and the bar code. A pretty wonderful gift wouldn't you say?

Oh... and the reason he used a print of Wilma Flintstone is because for most of my life I had very long hair which I wore in a bun on the top of my head, like Wilma.

And that ends another Hendershott Family Holiday Special.  See you next year!!

 Best wishes for a Happy Healthy Peaceful New Year.

Our Annual Christmas Wrapping Contest

We had a marvelous Christmas, all the wrappers out did themselves and believe it or not are already making plans for next year.  With all the comings and goings it was a bit difficult getting everyone together for the opening of the gifts and we ended up with a two part family gathering. The first half was on Dec 26th and the finale was New Years Eve. Worked great....

 Here are the entries from the first half

This is a gift for Brandon W (we have two Brandon's... grandson Brandon L and grandson-in-law Brandon W) from Cory

Brandon loves his truck so Cory fashioned a truck from cardboard, filled the back with gifts....

and also put one under the hood. We are off to a good start don't ya think?

Brandon wrapped his gift for Benjamin.  

Benjamin loves wine and cigars so Brandon filled a coffin with gifts "that will kill you".  If you have followed our previous gift exchanges you know some of our family members are a bit "strange".... and Brandon is married to Sarah who did the bloody dog thing last year.  

Benjamin wrapped a gift for Brad. 

 Brad has always been a fan of Charlie Brown so he was thrilled with his Charlie Brown Christmas theme. How cute is this?

I can't show you Brads right now, I have to take better photos... it was a gift for me... so moving right along... I wrapped a gift for Sarah

A Giant Cupcake filled with.... what else..... polymer clay supplies, books, clay and a pasta machine. 

Sarah, our winner last year, wrapped a gift for her sister Amanda. She was pressed for time due to college finals and her hubby on leave from the Navy, plus she is the mommy of a 2 year old... so she wasn't able to devote a lot of time to wrapping... 

Amanda is an artist so Sarah wrapped her gift in pictures of fine art. Sara is planning to reclaim the trophy net year. 

Amanda's gift was for another past winner, Roger. 

Roger has recently become an enthusiastic member of a Dungeons and Dragons group... I'm pretty sure he joined a cult... so Amanda put her artistic talents to work and wrapped his gift as a 20 sided dice.  

Granddad Lynn had to work on New Years eve so Eugene gave him his gift... now according to Eugene he thought he had another week to plan his wrapping...so he wasn't prepared and his gift was wrapped in plain old Christmas paper.... didn't even rate a photo...no bow, nothing....  You can believe that story if you want to, me, I'm a little skeptical.  Every year we have at least one piker, I won't mention any names but they know of whom I speak.  Next year I will be keeping an eye on Eugene.  

Roger will be first up in the next installment.... which I will post tomorrow. Some really awesome entries yet to be  revealed so I hope you'll stop in..... and you don't want to miss the winner. 

Just wanted to add a couple photos of what made this a truly Joyous Christmas.  Having a baby in the family reminds us of the true meaning of Christmas. 

Uncle Brad bought Lily a set of pink mustaches which she loves.... take a look.

Lily wanted to see how she looked so  her grandma, my daughter , (yikes our daughter is a grandma!) held her up to a mirror.

She had no problem keeping it on and walked around like it was part of her daily attire.

This is my favorite and is now my screen saver.  She is such a funny bunny!! We all love her to pieces. 

This Years Gift Wrapping Winner

And the winner is...... granddaughter Sarah for her cadaver dog Darby.

Cory and Amanda have a real dog named Darby. He is a Brittany Spaniel mix that looks like a black lab. Darby is almost a year old. They got him from the animal shelter when he was a pup. Darby is a sweet, happy dog but he loves to chew/eat everything. I know most puppies go through the chewing stage but Darby has taken it to an extreme level. He rips up and eats anything with stuffing... couch cushions, comforters, his own doggie bed... he has torn holes in the carpet, eaten holes in the wall board, and damaged the bed frame. The remote control, Amanda's cell phone and other items to numerous to mention are covered in bite marks or have been totally consumed. Darby was Sarah's inspiration for her gift wrap project... Cadaver Dog Darby.

Cadaver dog Darby went to far, he ate Cory's Christmas gifts.... then died.... that's why we call him cadaver dog. He looks pretty healthy but as you can see from the red tag on his leg he is "DEAD"

Click on the photos for a closer look... and so you can read the tag.
Cadaver dog was placed on a cookie sheet. Cory was given a scalpel so he could retrieve his gifts.
Cory was a little apprehensive as he made the incision.
Yikes! blood began to spurt!!
Really getting into it now Cory expanded the incision.... do we have a surgeon in the making, should he should change his major to medicine?

Check the startled look on Eric PEZ... he's thinking "Thank God I wasn't a gift for that guy!" Cory, on the other hand, is really getting into this surgery thing.
Progress is being made... first present is removed.
More to go so he keeps on digging. Second gift come's out with sucking sound... we like realism in our family.

All done, time to clean up a bit. Poor Darby, really looks like a cadaver now, see his lolling tongue and the blood drops on the floor? Remember I told ya, Sarah is a little strange, but we love her anyway.
Here's the real Darby "playing" with a friend.... who appears to be begging for his life. He most likely has heard the rumors and is a little concerned he may be Darby's next victim. Hopefully Darby will be over the chewing stage soon. I'd hate to see him become a cadaver dog.
And here is Sarah receiving the coveted Christmas Trophy from the here-to-for undefeated champion Roger.
Now wasn't that fun? Will Sarah retain the trophy, will Roger make a come back or will a new winner emerge? Oh the suspense! Tune in next year to find out. Wishing you all a happy, healthy and peaceful 2010. Thanks for stopping by.

Christmas Gift Wrapping

Here it is at long last... the saga of our annual gift wrapping contest. This is going to take awhile so grab a cup of coffee or tea or something stronger... wine perhaps... settle back and enjoy.

Okay this first one may seem a little strange for a Christmas gift. It is a gift for Sarah from her cousin Nick, they both have, oh I don't know, how shall I explain it... rather quirky senses of humor. The wrapping is based on a short story "The Gift" by Lou Reed. Google it and you will see what I mean. You googled it ... right? not exactly what you'd expect for Christmas huh? Told you they are weird, they take after hubby's side of the family.

All is not lost, the crate was filled with craft supplies which made Sarah very happy.

More in the spirit of Christmas, Amanda wrapped her gift as a Treasure Chest and filled it with artistic treasures she made herself. Uncle Brad was thrilled and Grandma was envious.

The Eric PEZ (last years winner) was put to good use by me again this year. Eric collects PEZ so the Eric PEZ was given a hat and scarf and filled with collectible PEZ. See that poor pathetic package sitting next to the Eric PEZ... that was Roger's entry this year. In fairness to Roger he has been working a lot of over time, his mother is ill and he thought he had more time to wrap his gift. The Eric PEZ reminds you what a good job he did last year. He'll make a come back next year.

Benjamin had Brandon's name so he wrapped his gift to resemble an Xbox. It was filled with collectible comic books ( I know they are called "graphic novels" but they look like comic books to me) and two really cool Tee shirts he printed himself. Benjamin has a TeeShirt printing business.

Brad went the more traditional route. His gift was a small tree all decked out in flowers, ornaments and lights that he found at Mom's house. The gifts for Andrea are at the bottom of the tree wrapped in paper and ribbons that he also found at Mom's house. Zachery had my name. He wrapped his gift as a Santa bag inside a chimney. Inside the bag is a wonderful Jim Shore Santa. I collect Santas and Jim Shore figures so it was the perfect gift.
Andrea gave Pathena (my not-Heather daughter) a set of stainless steel mixing bowls cleverly wrapped as a Christmas tree. First she individual wrapped the bowls is shiny green paper then assembled them in the shape of tree, added big stars and lights and a cool ornament at the top. How's that for a neat idea?
Cory and Eugene went together on their gift for Heather (my not-Pathena daughter) and Roger. They gave them a gift certificate to a Bed and Breakfast so they wrapped their gift as Breakfast in Bed. Check out the bacon and eggs, they look good enough to eat.
Okay I wrapped this one.. although technically the gift was from hubby for grandson-in-law Brandon (we have two Brandon's, grandson Brandon and this one who is married to granddaughter Sarah and is the father of sweet little Lily) His gift is a ukulele. At first I was going to wrap it as a gingerbread man then grandson Brandon suggested a hula girl...because of the ukulele. Okay, I thought, I can do that. I made polymer clay coconuts for her bra and had this neat shredded box for a skirt.... then her top was giving me trouble, the coconuts weren't working so I switched to a gypsy hence the scarves and jewelry which kinda transformed her into a cross between a gypsy and a hippie. As usual the family thought her a little strange....maybe "they" don't take after hubby's side of the family after all.
This pretty wrapped table is a gift for Benjamin from Lily's dad (easier than explaining it's from grandson-in-law Brandon rather than grandson Brandon). Benjamin is a Cardinals fan so his gift was a Cardinal's lamp and Cardinal's clock.
Grandson Brandon drew his granddads name. Granddad is a pharmacist so Brandon, along with his best friend also named Brandon (we are over run with Brandons), created a giant pill bottle and filled it with gift capsules. All my grandkids are talented.
Daughter Pathena... also called Patty.. drew Nicks name. Nick likes to make films so his package was wrapped as a projector and contained a fancy pair of pants for bicycling which he also like to do.

Heather's gift was for Eugene. Eugene is a big rock and roll fan, especially loves the Beatles so Heather wrapped his gift as a guitar adorned with big lips. She got him a "bunch of Rolling Stones stuff, that's why it's a Rolling Stones guitar". ( I couldn't remember what she got him so when I asked her that is what she said)This was one of my favorite gifts. Eric, with help from Brad, wrapped it for Amanda. He recreated a giant Lindor Truffles bag (see the real bag of Lindor Truffles sitting next to it) filled with individually wrapped truffles. Each truffle contained a hand made ceramic mug.
You still haven't seen the winning package... that's a whole story in itself and will be revealed

tomorrow. Oh come on, you knew I couldn't do this all in one day. I can feel the excitement building, can't you?