Young House Love

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Christmas Gift Ideas For Husbands, Wives, & Kids

Let’s get into what Santa brought us. This was an exciting Christmas because in all of our seven December 25ths together, we’ve never woke up in our own beds to open the presents under our own tree as a family (i.e. we’d always traveled elsewhere).

Gifts Xmas Tree Full

We did meet up with a bunch of relatives later in the morning to open gifts as one big crazy Petersik family, but we snuck in some present opening time as just the four of us earlier in the morning. Especially since Santa brought one little Petersik something extra special this year (as mentioned in great detail here)…

Gifts Xmas Tree Kitchen

Along with her play-kitchen Clara got lots of clothes, books, toys, and that favorite leopard hat of hers. But since we always get asked what we got each other, let’s get into that. First off, I stalked Sherry’s Pinterest page to learn that she wanted these Kendra Scott earrings – which look quite good on her, if I may say so.

Gifts Sherrys Earrings

She also got me a couple of dangly things in the form of two bicycle ornaments (well, technically one’s a moped) from Crate & Barrel to fuel my new obsession with bike art. It provided the perfect opportunity to pose next to my dad with the gift that we got him – a bicycle parts shirt from Etsy (unlike me, my dad’s love of bikes extends to actually riding them regularly).

Gifts John Dad Bike Stuff

Sherry and I both ended up getting each other art too, which was kind of funny. Sherry made me a very sweet Boy Scout merit badge collage for all the “skills that I excel at” that she was inspired to create after seeing some vintage badges on eBay for woodworking that she thought I deserved (they were selling for something like $80, so she called a friend whose son has tons of boy scout/eagle scout badges and just scanned and returned them). Then she printed the ones that “applied to me,” cut them out, and taped them in a grid on some navy craft paper leftover from our old living room art.

Gifts Johns Frames Full

The sweet part is that she used the actual name of the merit badge to express something she loves about me, is thankful to me for, or that’s meaningful to us both.

Gifts Johns Badges Close

She even typed up and framed a key to explain everything. I laughed out loud at letter P, which was a badge featuring a squirrel icon.

Gifts Johns Explanations Cl

We haven’t figured out where to hang it yet, but I love how simple and graphic (and funny!) it is. It looks great with the curtains in the dining room, so it might end up there.  On the other hand, Sherry had my gift to her hung before the day was over. That girl is fast!

Gifts Octopus Far

It’s there on the far left, and it’s a custom poster that I bought from A Vintage Poster. It’s a weird story, but this is a line from an episode of Toddlers & Tiaras (um, not that we watch that show – it was just on in the background one day). They introduced one little girl to the stage with this gem that perfectly epitomizes childhood innocence: “When Emerald grows up, she wants to be a photographer… or an octopus.” I altered the quote a bit and A Vintage Poster did a bang up job converting it into a fun little one-of-a-kind poster that only makes sense to us.

Gifts Octopus Close

Who doesn’t need a refreshing reminder to dream big every once and a while? And the coral color looks so great with Clara’s painting next to it.

Gifts Octopus Sherrys Side

Speaking of big dreams, Clara, Burger and I also gave Sherry something to encourage her to pursue one of her former hobbies: art. She’s got her BFA and originally went to school to be an artist, but life has kinda pushed that aside. I’ve heard her say more than once while watching Work of Art on Bravo that she misses it, so we snagged her some paints and a gift certificate to a local art supply store (intentionally not Michael’s or somewhere she could spend it on house projects instead). Oh, and don’t mind my goof on the card – I’m so used to signing “John & Sherry” that I forgot she wasn’t giving this to herself. #ChristmasPresentFAIL

Gifts Art Gift Certificate

Let’s see – what am I forgetting? Oh yeah, Sherry got these funny little buttons that perfectly sum up our relationship for me here on Etsy.

Gifts Buttons

Knowing my nerdiness, she also got me a “tech” gift  in the form of a remote for our camera (because I’ve often mentioned that it’d be helpful to have around). After all, the world needs more photos like this, right?

Gifts John Remote

Oh, and don’t worry – Burger wasn’t forgotten. He’s just not a morning person – er, morning pup (?) – so he had to have his presents delivered to him in bed. Here he is with the lion toy Clara picked out for him.

Gifts Burger Lion

And there’s a great stretching/smiling photo of him here. On that note, I think we’ve more than exhausted our run down of Christmas goodies between this post and this morning’s play kitchen extravaganza. What’d you guys get or give his year? Anything especially awesome? Something DIY or house related?

Psst- We just shared a HUGE CHRISTMAS POST full of family pics and even more holiday details over on Young House Life, so you can check that out here.

Update: You can check out all of our favorite holiday decor finds here – many of which are under $15! 

Comments

  2. Emily R. says

    Super dorks are underrated. Great gifts you too. I was really excited about my Christmas Present from my boyfriend. He made me a shutterfly book of pictures I took on our trip to Alaska this Summer. He is a semi-pro photographer so his pictures go up on his website, but no one really sees mine. It was a very sweet present he put a lot of work into and showed me he was proud of me.

    Reply

  3. Elizabeth says

    Great gifts! I too gave art as a gift to my hubby for Christmas. It was a print from Heather Brown-she is out of O’Ahu, Hawaii and her work is beautiful! Wishing you all the happiest of new years and looking forward to more! :)

    Reply

  4. San says

    I think there’s a typo under the O on the merit badge sheet!
    In other news, this is a great post!
    I made my Hubs a scarflet for xmas, I was working on it until 1:30am christmas eve!

    Reply

  5. Amanda @ Serenity Now says

    What thoughtful gifts you guys got each other! :) My hubs got me a remote for my Nikon. I haven’t tried it out yet…did you have to do any fiddling around with the camera settings before trying yours out?

    Reply

  6. Amber says

    I am the total worst for pointing this out, I realise…but does “O” have a spelling error? If you didn’t save that document somewhere I will totally re-type it for you since I’m the jerk who pointed it out.

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      You’re not the worst! We’ve got that document to reprint it. I’m just proud that for once I’m not the one with the typo (though I can’t blame her since she was squeezing this in between painting our cabinets and Clara’s).

      -John

    • Andrea S says

      I saw that, too and was sitting here debating whether to say something or not! :) I see typos so easily that should have been an editor. The merit badges are too precious. What a wonderful and meaningful gift.

  8. Elizabeth says

    I love the personalized gift ideas. And thank you so much for the link to Vintage Poster which gave me the perfect idea for my gift to my Fiance for our wedding day. Lets hope he doesn’t read this now, but I’m going to have them make a poster with the main line from our first dance song: You are the best thing by Ray Lamontagne. We are both huge fans and I just know that he’ll love to hang it in our new home once we get said new home. By the way give the song a listen. I think Clara would love singing along.

    Reply

  12. Jennifer says

    You guys rock! I love reading your blog.

    Pssst…Is it supposed to be ‘model design and builDing’ for letter O? :)

    Reply

  13. Lauren says

    Shut The Front Door! That play kitchen is so sweet and charming, I love it! And John, I too stalk Sherry’s pinterest boards so I was wondering when the two of you might put those play kitchen pins to use. I much prefer your (er, Santa’s) homemade and “from the heart” kitchen to any fisher price kitchen – which would likely cost oodles more! Using your kitchen paint colours was such a great idea too, now when you’re both cooking in your grellow kitchen, Clara can cook in hers! And FYI – that fried sandwich looks delish!

    Thanks for also taping your Christmas morning, it was so heartwarming to watch – I love Clara’s babble, and I love how you both know exactly what she’s saying!

    One of my favourite YHL posts to date! Thanks for sharing the love!

    Lauren

    P.S. Sherry, she does indeed need a fridge! ;)

    Reply

  14. Lauren says

    P.P.S. I spied a white chest of drawers in the background of one of the play kitchen pictures, is this new??

    Reply

  15. Lauren says

    P.P.P.S. Whoops, I totally posted my two comments under the wrong blog post…lol, sorry guys, guess I’m not the only one making typos!

    Reply

  19. Aissa says

    I’m so jealous of those earrings! I might have repinned this from you! They’re gorgeous! I love the art that you two get each other. So precious!

    Reply

  21. heather says

    John wins about a 1,000 million gazillbillion husband points. White Ceramic Husband. So so so so perfect.

    My hubby got me digital calipers for using on our lathe so I can make sure my stuff is even, and 3 vegan cookbooks I wanted, including the Moosewood Cookbook (a reprint of the original one) I’ve wanted for years. <3

    Reply

  22. Penny says

    Your gifts to each other are perfect, and may I say the stenciled walls look COMPLETELY AWESOME in the background.

    Reply

  23. Alyssa says

    Great gifts!! You guys really think of everything:) my hubby got me an iPad and I got him surround sound, which he has been missing since our receiver went out last year:( nothing overly exciting, but this iPad makes my blog reading SO much more enjoyable!!

    Reply

  24. Melissa says

    Is that a new laptop? Didn’t you guys have matching white MacBooks before?

    I just got one myself and have been thinking to myself how I’m all twinsies with you guys, but I guess not anymore! :p

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      I don’t think we’ve actually ever had matching ones. One is stainless and one is white, but they’re both MacBooks so I think they might look like they’re twins in some shots of the light reflects off the silver one!

      xo,
      s

  26. Beth says

    Happy new year! LOVE the play kitchen! Quick question hoping you’ll answer — ceiling fans, we’ve gotta have one, though many out there seem to be quite the eyesore. In looking through your photos, it looks like you have an array of different colored ones in your current house. What color do you think for a bedroom? Something is telling me white will make it blend in (disappear) more? Opinion since you have so many around?

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      White! Small and sleek and white or small and oil-rubbed bronze aren’t bad (ORB is better for a sunroom but white will disappear more in a bedroom). You can also do a table fan for the bedroom (we did that in our master, switched out the ceiling fan for a pretty chandelier and went with a high efficiency table fan that we run at night). Hope it helps!

      xo,
      s

  28. Cora says

    Along with your children’s furniture idea, I think you guys would need to include prints because that awesome octopus is just well awesome!!

    Reply

  29. Marian says

    I just spit my wine all over my dog and husband at the sight of “white ceramic husband.”

    Well worth it. :)

    Reply

  30. mp says

    This is SOOO sweet! So much care and love in the presents you gave each other.

    The Christmas after we bought our house, my husband asked me what I wanted as a gift. I said, “Flannel sheets.” He balked and replied, “That’s not very romantic.” I said, “It’s not romantic being cold in bed, either.” (Our bedroom is a vinyl-covered addition to a sturdy brick house, and the original owners took a lot of shortcuts constructing it.) He gave me the sheets, and I’m still using them three years later — a loving reminder of his good spirit and generosity. (He passed away in April of 2009, after a long and gruesome battle with diabetes.)

    The posse (headed by Burger’s doppleganger, Bindarra) wants Burger to know that they, too, are not morning pups. They believe that no decent dog is up before noon.

    Reply

  32. Anna Sebok says

    My boyfriend got me the color changing cube speaker for my ipod that I know you guys have (seeing it in a photo you guys posted prompted me to ask for it for Christmas). He also got me a beautiful customized pink painting of Ohio with a heart in it. My gifts felt very YHL-inspired this year. :)

    Reply

  33. Michelle says

    So Fun! You all are hilarious and so thoughtful. I <3 it.

    The remote is awesome. I got one last year... makes for a less rushed family portrait ;D No timer, run, timer, run... LOL

    We made Etched drinking glasses for our family. My hubby and I had a lot of fun doing it and it was soooo easy! They turned out great and were a big hit! We make gifts every year and these have definitely been my fav to give.

    Reply

  34. Candace says

    my awesome husband got me jadeite cups and saucers for my collection. i’m more obsessed with jadeite than sherry is with white ceramic animals. :) in fact, i told him that “any gift for me from now on should be jadeite.”

    Reply

  39. Rachel says

    John you are hilarious!

    Thanks for the laughs…and for sharing what you guys got each other! Puts my husband and I to shame. : )

    Good luck with your deadline…..may you have lots of naps after the fourth.

    Reply

  42. Tonya says

    Toddlers and Tiaras is SO one of my guilty pleasures. So, imagine my surprise when I was absentmindedly watching an episode and thought, Hmm, that mom sounds familiar. And….looks familiar too! I rewound and confirmed that the infamous mini Dolly Parton’s mommy was, in fact, a former student of mine.

    Reply

  43. Kelsey says

    I love A Vintage Poster. I had a movie theme in my first apartment ‘s living room and I ordered a custom “vintage” movie projector poster from her. Now, its featured on the website!

    Reply

  44. Lauren says

    HAHAHA Clara singing ‘Frosty the Snowman’ and talking about beans and cereal has me in stiches! What a little sweetheart you have! Awesome job on the lil kitchen!

    Reply

  46. LeCheech says

    From Last Year:
    “But now that we’re more settled, in hindsight it wasn’t so bad. Which is kind of how we feel about all of our other annual end-of-year adventures. So I guess we’ll just have to wait about 11 months to see what crazy project we’ve got going on at the end of 2011 to keep the streak alive for a fifth year in a row. Maybe we’ll be in the midst of a simultaneous kitchen remodel, floor refinishing project, and bathroom tile job. You know, just to put the other years to shame…”

    Prophetic much?

    Reply

  48. Rebecca says

    This was the first Christmas EVER my husband and I have even spend together. I figured now that we are married it was bound to happen since it didn’t as friends, dating or engaged, haha. I made sure it was in our own first house too, even though we drove around like crazy people to visit all the family.

    Reply

  49. Sarah J says

    i LOVE the print for sherry! i think i need to get one for my husband, when he was little he wanted to be either a lion or a firetruck when he grew up. :)

    Reply

  50. amanda says

    I want your earrings! I loved those yellow ones John bought you before too, one of you has very good taste!

    My dog has that lion along with the rest of the zoo from Target. I also was able to get a box of dog toys from the Christmas section for half off, so about $5 for 6-7 squeaky/crunchy toys. It was really cute too, it looked like one of those cheese and sausage gift packages. I gave him one and now I can spread them out through the year-he loves getting new toys, spoiled little boy.

    Reply

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