Last month, the day before, school started my husband and I celebrated our 12th wedding anniversary. That day we celebrated together as a family taking a long bike ride downtown and watching "Babe" on the big screen in an old movie theater. It means a lot to the kids that they get a chance to be a part of our "celebration". I think partly it's just because they like to celebrate and make decorations, they even made a big "Happy Anniversary" banner for us all on their own!
Of course, we love to celebrate with them, but sometimes it's nice when it's just the two of us...so we went Contra dancing by ourselves...If you ever have the opportunity to go contra dancing (like Irish square dancing, kind of...) GO! It's crazy, hot, sweaty, confusing, tiring and giggly fun! We had so much fun together just throwing ourselves in to the "unknown". Working through our uncertainties and helping each other as we went, holding on tightly as we spun down the line.
Twelve years married and sixteen all tolled, it hardly seems possible that it's been that long. In hindsight I see that the road is long and has been well traveled, of course there have been a few bumps, but we've continued to grow together and walk laughing hand in hand each day.
Each year since we've been married, I look to the "traditional anniversary gift" by year suggestions...it started out as a fun thing to do for our first anniversary, but since then I've enjoyed the "challenge" of finding a gift that works within the traditional (sometimes modern) boundaries.
This twelfth year is linen, and so I made a linen lunch bag...
It's hard to come up with men's gift ideas, let alone gift ideas to make for men! I'm not sure how/when I settled on the lunch bag idea, perhaps I was inspired by the lovely linen grid that I acquired during my quick Purl Soho trip early this summer and has been on my shelf all summer long...Perhaps, I was inspired in part by the "back to school" excitement...whatever it was...a lunch bag was my linen gift answer...
A lunch bag with neon orange stitching and an antler button...
One lined in oilcloth and insulated with Pellon Insul-fleece...
One with a pop of red linen on the sides to make it more masculine (did it work?)...
It's a little bit bulky due to the insulation, but I wanted it to be functional, not just "pretty", because men are much more for function over cuteness, right?
I used Martha Stewart's oilcloth lunch bag as a pattern guide and went from there because I really liked the idea of the traditional "paper bag" style, it too seemed a bit more masculine.
The kids really got a kick out of the fact that I was making Daddy a lunch bag. I really loved the way it turned out but was uncertain how it was going to be received...It turns out he loved it. Plus, really it's a win/win...a lunch bag means I make him lunch everyday now...A handmade (with love of course!) lunch each day filled with good things to eat, and now, for three entire weeks he's taken lunch to work with him! That might be a record! I've been trying to get him to take his lunch to work for years! I guess all he needed was a lunch bag to make that happen.
Oh, I'm sure the twelve little hugs and kisses there at the bottom help too...
Ps...some of the other traditional (& modern) gifts I've given with a handmade twist to them... 8, 9, 10...
This year I was feeling a little extra inspired by the "modern" gift idea of pearls and had this custom piece made by little green things...
I love all of the things that Leah makes! You may recall seeing a couple of her other pieces here and here...And this song, "Pearls on a String" by Ryan Adams (a favorite of ours) I could not shake the feeling that it'd be a perfect little green things piece...So this year, I went with both traditional and modern...
Have a lovely day!
