Handmade Holiday 2013 -- Made

We're still living in a wintery wonderland here. 

If natural disasters had a beauty contest, ice storms would win, hands down.

But on to the handmades.

This was a very un-handmade Christmas, at least from my end.

The only things I made were two pairs of felted mittens for E and Z (and since I've been meaning to make them for about three years, I'm not even sure if they count...).

Z has been very into herbalism lately, so for the grandparents, he and I (with some help from M and E), made a tea mix of our own invention (Winter Warming Tea: peppermint, lemon balm, crushed cinnamon stick, lavender, whole coriander seeds) plus eucalyptus chest rub and slippery elm throat lozenges (recipes in Rhythm of the Family).

And for his Auntie E, E knitted up this cozy neck warmer of rainbow baby alpaca yarn.

And this doesn't really count as a gift, but my grandmother from Austria used to make linzertorte every Christmas, and while I've never been able to get my hands on her original recipe, I've always made one using an old Martha Stewart recipe. This year I decided to make the crust a little healthier (minus butter and egg), and experimented using this crust recipe. It turned out really delicious, and much easier (and less tough) than the recipe I normally use. It's going to stay in my holiday baking repertoire for sure.

Happy New Year to you all! Stay warm and I'll be back Thursday with the handmades received!