Christmas Gift Ideas Meant for Husbands, Wives, & Kids

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

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 simply the four of us earlier in the morning. Especially since Santa brought one little Petersik something extra special this year (as mentioned in strong detail here)…

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

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 ideal 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 enjoy of bikes extends to in fact riding them regularly).

Sherry and I both ended up getting each other art too, which was kind of funny. Sherry made me a quite 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 simply 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.

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 is meaningful to us both.

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.

We have not figured out where to hang it yet, but I enjoy how plain and graphic (and funny!) it is. It looks strong 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!

It is there on the far left, and it is a custom poster that I picked up from A Vintage Poster. It is a weird story, but this is a line from an episode of Toddlers & Tiaras (um, not that we watch that show – it was simply 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 lively little one-of-a-kind poster that only makes sense to us.

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

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 have 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 do not mind my goof on the card – I am so used to signing “The house team” that I forgot she was not giving this to herself. #ChristmasPresentFAIL

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

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

Oh, and do not worry – Burger was not forgotten. He’s simply 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.

And there is a strong stretching/smiling photo of him here. On that note, I think we have more than exhausted our run down of Christmas goodies between this post and this morning’s play kitchen extravaganza. What’d you folks get or give his year? Anything especially excellent? Something Hands-on or house related?

Psst- We simply shared a LARGE CHRISTMAS POST full of family pics and even more holiday details over on the house Life, so you can check that out here.

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