Christmas Gifts

Lucas and I decided not to do Christmas gifts this year. But, I kinda wanted to do something small just for the purpose of opening something together for our first married Christmas morning. I told him to just buy me a toothbrush and wrap it up, but instead he got me this:

This book is huge and wonderful. I would sit and flip through it whenever we were in a Barnes and Noble, making mental notes of Martha's homekeeping tips. Now, it's all mine. I'm looking forward to copying the pages about what to clean weekly and monthly and scheduling cleaning days for various tasks. Some girls like jewelry. I like cleaning tips and toothbrushes.

For him, I knew I wanted to go the homemade route. I feel like this is more difficult now as whatever I make for him will have to fit into our home somehow. Picture frames, memory boxes, etc. must now serve a purpose in terms of decor. I wanted to do something relating to his photography, when the idea came to me to make him a portfolio of his work. He's in the process of revamping his logo and website, but I thought for now (in case any jobs come up or in case he'd just like to show off his work), I'd make a tangible portfolio.

He's very specific about how he wants things to look and is quite the perfectionist, so this task made me a little anxious. I made it as flexible as possible so that he can go back and change things or add to the portfolio if he feels the need. I spent a whole day looking through all of the photos on his hard drive, trying to pick out what I thought to be a well-rounded portfolio. The wedding pictures were the most fun (picking out the best portraits, best show of details, and most romantic bride and groom shots). Choosing the best food photographs was fun as well, especially since most of the photos he took for me. I already had my favorites. The most tedious part was sizing the pictures to fit the pages of the portfolio then printing, cutting, and attaching them to the pages. I used a scrapbook album which I purchased from the craft store. I was very tempted to add all kinds of flourishes and cutesy elements, but I wanted it to look for sleek and professional, not like an actual scrapbook.

I like the way it turned out. Hopefully he does too.