Homemade Christmas Gift for Grandparents

My inlaws live across the road from us--I used to think that was a bad thing--until we had kids! My mother-in-law dotes on her grandkids and has been very helpful to us through the years. I had five little kids at one time, remember? She was a provider of cookies and hugs, as well as lots of fun through the years. Now we help her more than she helps us--but it is our turn! She married a very special guy a few years ago and we now enjoy helping them with household chores and taking care of their needs.

They are in a place in their lives where they are "cleaning out" stuff! That means that each of the kids gets a box (or ten boxes) of things that she no longer wants, but might belong to her kids. So what do you get a lady like that for Christmas? I don't want to give her more "things" that she doesn't want! They both love pictures...so the grandkids and I came up with the perfect gift for her. I admit, it made her cry!

At thanksgiving, the three kids and their families come home to our house to celebrate and we have begun the tradition of making a craft project after we eat and nap...this year we snuck around to take some special photographs for Grandma & Grandpa. There are 10 grandkids and it was perfect for this project:

I bought 10 black 5x7" frames from the Dollar Store and the kids took the photos, printed them out and framed them for Grandma and Grandpa. Since the grandparents had already gone home for their afternoon nap after our Thanksgiving dinner, we called them up and the kids all popped over to surprise them with their early Christmas gift. It went over perfectly!!

We are very blessed to have my husband's parents in our lives. They are special people and these kids all adore them! So it was a very special gift to share with them.  And the kids had fun taking the pictures and orchestrating it all!!