Gifts - part 2

Just wanted to share a few other gifts sent or received recently. The apple pie filling gift bag included a photo card of my husband juggling apples at the orchard, The little one with an apple and the older one peeling them (I'm the pie). These were sent to people who I thought would probably not gag from cuteness (basically family members). Oh, there's also a page of recipes I have cut and pasted onto one sheet. The recipes range from pie crust to cobbler to bourbon ice cream (that you could top with the apples). I recently found some old fashioned caramels - you know, the square ones in the plain clear wrapper - and threw those in the bag as well.

People I wanted to give a gift to, but whom I thought would not exactly treasure the family photo received the strawberry-lemon jam gift bag. Last year my canned bruschetta gift was packaged in a pretty and festive box, but you know...the economy and all... The accessories are all from World Market. They are GREAT for gift basket type things. I think last year's stuff was also from World Market.

My husband met a woman who canned back in the day and had these lovely glass jars to pass along to me. In return, we gave her a small sampling of my canned goodies. One of these jars had a sticker on it that said, "grape juice 1961". I think that's pretty nifty.

Below are the holiday cookies and bars I received from my friend Grace (this has turned in a fairly annual thing that we all look forward to!). The biggest treasure is the separate box of lemon bars she set aside just for my husband and I (cause the kids wolf them down but don't appreciate them). They are made from her own Meyer lemons!

And finally, this is my front doorstep today. I love when the mailbox is stuffed with packages and there's a box on the ground. Especially when the box is from Williams-Sonoma and stamped "perishable". That can only mean good things. It ended up being salami, cherry rusk crackers, and coffee-rubbed artisan cheese. Apparently my sister saw them in a catalog and just decided to send them! As you might recall from Gifts - part 1, she's the best!