Hats, Hats, Everywhere!

What do you do for Christmas gifts when you have seventeen special nieces and nephews? SEVENTEEN! Well, five of those are “adopted” (Spears family). Others are newcomers this year, like little Caitlyn, who is less than a month older than Sam. Some are on my side of the family, some on Steve’s. But what a blessing to have seventeen precious little (and not-so-little) ones in our family!

So again, how to handle seventeen Christmas gifts? This year, I made hats. Lots of hats. Cute hats, tough-guy-camo hats, silly hats, and even sophisticated-teenager-beret hats. Each one is unique, tailored to the personality of each recipient. Online I located instructions for several different styles, including a dwarf hat, a pom-pom hat, a beret, a jester hat, a skull cap, and a flower hat. To supplement the fleece fabric I had on hand, I found some inexpensive fleece at Walmart that was very soft. In addition to learning how to make several styles of hats, I learned how to make fleece pom-poms. It was easier than I expected! Even though the hats didn’t cost much to make, they were an investment in love and time; I would estimate they took about four days’ worth of Sam’s naps to complete. Below is a picture of all of them together (yes, there are a couple extra for Spears Mom and Dad, who are apart this Christmas). I even made Sam a little dinosaur hat out of the leftovers.