I just had to share with you one of my favorite Christmas gifts this year – not to receive, but to make and give!

This year I made two quiet books for two adorable kids.  I’m definitely not recommending this as a quick and easy DIY gift to make.  No, ma’am!  Don’t plan on making one of these babies unless you want to invest a couple weeks of your time.  Really.  It did take me that long – but I think it was definitely worth it.  I don’t know how the kiddos feel, but I sure love these quiet books!

As I mentioned, I made two of these – a girl’s version for Megan, and a boy’s version for little Forrest.  I didn’t get pictures of Forrest’s taken before the gift was wrapped, so I’m counting on Forrest’s mama Rachel, over at Maybe Matilda to take some pictures of that one.  But here are some pictures of Megan’s book.

The tree has green leaves for spring, pink flowers for summer, and  colorful leaves for fall.

Write a letter to grandma, and get one in return!

Okay – this page may be my favorite.  My daughter Bekah actually came up with the idea for this one and the page that faces it.  We all know little girls love to play with hair (this one’s can be braided), and get all jazzed up with hair bows, necklaces, jewelry, etc.  Little Megan can do it all right here!

The purple purse holds all the hair bows and the jewelry.  Plus we threw in some keys, a fake license (courtesy of Bekah’s graphic design skills – isn’t it adorable?), and some chapstick.

What little girl doesn’t dream of being a ballerina some day?  Practice lacing up those slippers!

This page is also a favorite of mine.  Mostly because of the adorable little clothes (and the dresser to keep them in!).

Forrest’s book was much more manly, of course, and included pages with a toolbox and tools, a road with road signs and a car, and a robot.

Even though it was very time consuming, I had so much fun making these!  I’m even thinking of adding a couple more pages I’ve been dreaming up.

Yes, I definitely think I’ll do that – after I catch up on all the housework that didn’t get done while I was working on these!