The 12 days of Christmas: ring and run

This year I decided to do the twelve days of Christmas for a friend. I didn't want to do the typical 4 calling birds, 3 french hens, 2 turtle doves, and 1 over-rated Christmas song. 

That just screams boring to me and let's face it… The Twelve Days of Christmas is basically the Christmas version of 99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall. 

So I decided to mix it up and do it in true Kylie fashion.

I spent a ton of time on it and to be quite honest, I think I overdid it for this "friend" 

(more on that later) 

You can find the tags I used here. 

(Sorry the first couple of pictures aren't that great. I grabbed the pictures as I was running out the door to go deliver them.)

On the first day I attached a note that said 

"This glad Christmas season is so full of fun. 

I'm happy to share it with you and then run.

How grateful I am that you're playing my game.

You'll now find that Christmas won't be the same.

The song that we sing twelve days in a row

Won't get tiresome with treats from someone you know.

But to keep up the mystery and the fun,

you won't know who I am until I'm all done! 

Each night I'll bring something 

Please don't watch for me coming.

If you catch me too soon, 

It will spoil the fun that's coming!"

On the 1st day of Christmas 

your secret elf brings a surprise

1 brand new game

for you to play tonight. 

On the 2nd day of Christmas

I leave outside your door

2 puzzles for your fun

now who could ask for more?

On the 3rd day of Christmas

we're hoping for a storm 

but with these 3 pairs of socks

your toes will sure be warm.

On the 4th day of Christmas 

I bring a special treat 

4 bags of Hershey's kisses

because I think you're neat. 

On the 5th day of Christmas 

again I come your way

this time with 5 boxes of goldfish

please won't you let them stay? 

 On the 6th day of Christmas 

with 6 more left to go 

take some time and trim the tree and hang some mistletoe 

I'm sure by now you need a break so have a nice cool drink

6 cans of fizz is sure to help, at least that's what I think. 

On the 7th day of Christmas 

I hope I don't get caught 

I know 7 pieces of candy 

might really hit the spot!

On the 8th day of Christmas 

the rushing never stops 

so stop and sit a little while

with these 8 lollipops. 

On the 9th day of Christmas 

It was getting hard to choose

but with 9 tubes of Chapstick

I felt I could not lose. 

On the 10th day of Christmas 

with Santa coming soon

I've brought you 10 nice bright

 balloons to decorate your room. 

(These were intended to be filled with helium but my 12 days got cut short… more on that later) 

On the 11th day of Christmas

well, well, how time does fly

so here are 11 pencils 

that you'll use by and by.

On the 12th day of Christmas 

there's 12 months in a year 

please make sure each one

is filled with lots of cheer. 

(it's a calendar) 

here are a couple links where you can find more ideas for different rhymes and gift ideas 

here and here 

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Here's the end of the crafty show and tell…. now comes my 12 days of Christmas saga. 

Buckle up. 

I met this "friend" about a month ago. We hit it off and things were going surprisingly well. I didn't initiate anything and he was taking the lead, which was fine by me. He hasn't had the best circumstances this past month and so I decided that maybe doing the 12 days of Christmas would be a good idea. The night before I was supposed to start I decided I wasn't going to do it. I got talked into doing it and decided that yeah, it would be a good idea. I'm telling you… listen to your gut instincts people. Just do it. It will save you in the end. 

The first three days went fairly well. Then I got home from delivering on the 3rd night and had a lovely conversation with said boy. Readers digest version… he was leading me on and admitted it. Jerk. I'm sorry that I got the wrong impression but holding hands and cuddling usually isn't a "just friends" type of deal. He blamed it on the fact that he had had a serious relationship before that didn't end well and he was hesitant about relationships now. WELCOME TO THE FREAKING WORLD!!! That's how everyone is! and do you know why? It's because of guys like him that lead people on that make people hesitant! So way to fuel your own fire bud! 

I decided after that that I was done wasting my time and energy on someone who didn't care about me and was only playing games. He didn't acknowledge the fact that I have feelings and I was done spending the time and effort trying to show him I cared. I barely got a half-assed thank you outta him. 

I wanted to quit right then and there… I honestly didn't feel it was worth my effort with those last 9 days. If it were up to me and my crazy ways it would've gone something like this…. 

"On the 4th day of Christmas you're a jerk so I quit" 

No matter how bad I really wanted to say that, I knew it would make me look like a complete idiot and I didn't want to treat him the way he treated me. And I'm sorry, but I could not just stop after day 3. It's like only closing the garage door 1/4 of the way and calling it good. 

So I ventured out and got one of those really large Christmas gift bags. You know the kind. The kind that are so large that when you walk by you think why on earth would anyone need a gift bag the size of Texas. I'll tell you why. To deliver a mass amount of gifts all at once because quite frankly you just don't give a ish anymore and you're done wasting your time delivering them. 

The dude lives a good 20 minutes away from me, which meant that one trip out there ended up being close to an hour with traffic. That kind of time each day times 12 days. You do the math… it just wasn't worth it anymore. I would rather be enjoying my Christmas break hanging out with people who care about me and dating guys that take things seriously. I packed the 9 remaining days up in my woolly mammoth sized gift bag and ditched it at his door. (hence why the 10 balloons were not blown up) 

So that's my saga. It was a total bust and totally not worth it. I did have fun putting it all together I just wish it would've turned out differently. Who knew that trying to do something kind could end a friendship in a nano second.

This is the bag full of all the crap. The first bag because oh yeah... did I mention the first one ripped so I had to go find another gargantuan gift bag. I'm telling you. I waste too much time on guys. You think I'd learn. 

Navy SEALS & Rock N' Roll

This all started back in December. I was recruited. 

No, not by the Navy. That day will never come. 

But by my uncle. 

He's a super cool guy and teaches at a local college on the weekends. One of his classes is guitar making. They make the guitars from start to finish. One of his students is in the Navy and had a really intricate carving on his guitar. He was currently serving and so my uncle asked me if I would paint it. After I got over the shock that he thought I had enough skill to do this, I said yes. He brought it over right before fall semester ended. I'd have plenty of time to paint it over Christmas break. 

I worked on it quite a lot during the break and the nights when I was at my parents by myself.  My work station looked a little like this... soda, water, paper towels, plenty of tiny paint brushes, tooth picks, paint, one computer with the picture (to get the colors correct) and another with Home Alone playing. Because if you know me at all I watch Home Alone way too much anyways and in December the numbers triple. 

This was the first real "progress" picture I took. I have a picture of it before I even started but for the life of me I can't find it. I must have lost it along with my studying for finals skills. 

Don't mind my very unappealing short and fat hand. This is just to show you how small the carving really was and what I was working with. 

This is another progress picture. I was initially going to do progress posts but I just figured I'd forget and would rather be able to show you start to finish in one day. 

The below picture is the final product. Now before I make myself look all amazing for getting this done, I must explain one thing. It took much longer than just Christmas break. Not because I was spending hours hovering over the guitar but because Kylie here has a smidge of ADD. I get so distracted and involved in other things that basically if it's not done within a certain amount of time you might not ever see it finished. If you look around my house, you'd find a whole lot of unfinished projects. Like that Wooden carrot, my frankenstein and witch decorations, my snowman decorations,bracelets, a sewing project from easily 4 years ago... you get the idea. If I didn't knock my kitchen table and chairs out in two days, I'd still probably be eating on the floor. 

Anyways I really didn't finish the guitar until mid to end February. Pathetic and embarrassing, I know. but alas it's finished. 

It's a good thing 

A) that this guy was going to be gone for a few months and wouldn't be needing the guitar right away and 

B) That my uncle is super patient and laid back

or it might have turned out a little more like this...

This is the final product once the guitar was completely varnished and everything was put together in a proper guitaresque way. 

My brother and I had many debates over this said guitar. He said the engraving was on the back because that's how the guitar should face. Me and the majority of other people (i.e. my mom, dad, sister, Garrett's friends, etc) said no. The guy who built it must be a lefty and made it for how he played. Well, we talked to my uncle about it and nope... my brother was totally right. 

The engraving is indeed on the back. 

I think it turned out pretty great if I may say so myself. I just hope that the guy, whoever he is, will enjoy it as well. It still makes me nervous to think about doing anything like this on anyone else's personal belongings. So nerve racking.