Looking back at some gifts

I come from a small family. For 12.5 years I was an only child, and my greatest prayer was always simply to have a brother or sister.
Finally those prayers were answered and I was blessed with a little brother. Three years later, another one came along!  You can imagine how excited I was!  I was past the 'play together' stage at that point though, so I still missed out on having siblings around my age to have fun with growing up.
I LOVE watching my own three kids (all within just over three years)
play and interact. 

One thing that I consider a HUGE blessing that came with getting married is my husband's family. He is one of 12 kids. Right now there are 7 married and right around 25 grandkids. That's a pretty big crew...especially when I compare it to MY family! It was a bit overwhelming at first, but now I love it!  My in-laws are a huge bonus in that mass of craziness.  They have blessed our family in so many ways!

It is always a fun AND insane time when everyone gets together for a holiday...or hunting season! :) That's a holiday in itself around here!!
For Christmas, most of the family participates in drawing names, which I never was involved in with my family since we were so small.  It's always a fun challenge to come up with a gift for the lucky person you get.
This past year, I got one of the younger girls in the family and decided to mostly make her gift myself.  Thought I'd share a few of the things here, since I like to try and keep up with my crafting projects on here...thought haven't been real successful and staying on top of it!

Made a few headbands using the stretchy bands you can get at Target. They work GREAT for staying in, and even fit my 6 month old baby.  The top two flowers in the picture are on alligator clips, so they can be used with or without the band, or switched around.

I also made her a little messenger bag.  She is in college, so I thought it would be handy for carrying the little things she needs from her classes.

She seemed to love everything, so I marked it as a successful gift for that year.
I have a few more things still from Christmas that I haven't shared, so we'll see if I'm caught up by next Christmas!
Do you make homemade gifts for Christmas, or other occasions?
I'd love to see your ideas!

Hope you're household is staying healthier than we are! It seems we've caught almost every bug going around here (which have been plenty!). Specifically me.  Seems like it's usually the kids catching things, but this last year has been a bad one for me. I don't know if I've had such bad sicknesses OR so often! We must be just adjusting to the changes of a new place. Or at least I HOPE that's what it is!!! Praying this year is a better one in that department.