The Christmas decorations may be down, but today’s snowy weather is the perfect atmosphere to share the fun things I gave and received in the Christmas in the Country Gift Exchange.

This year I was chosen to send a gift to Amanda Spoo of The Good Stuff blog. Amanda is a fellow ag communications graduate who currently lives in Washington DC and works for the United States Wheat Industry. I had so much fun picking out gifts for Amanda and learned that we have A LOT in common! We are both Ag Comm grads and enjoy coffee, wine and crafting. Oh and her favorite color is turquoise. Can you move closer so we can be friends, please?  🙂

The gift I put together for Amanda included some fun items in all of those categories. Check out her reveal post here to learn about the items I sent. I’m so glad you enjoyed everything, Amanda! I look forward to staying in touch!

The gift I received this year was from Laurie at Country Linked. Laurie is one of the hosts of the Christmas in the Country Gift Exchange so I was familiar with her blog, but enjoyed getting to learn more about her! Laurie and her husband farm in north central Missouri. She is an aspiring photographer and blogs about faith, family and farming, in addition to keeping up with her three little kiddos!

Laurie did an amazing job with my gift! She had me right from the minute I opened the package! Can anyone guess why?

Not only did she take the time to individually wrap each gift – each one was decorated with an adorable Purdue button! My mom has always been a big believer in wrapping each gift so that was a nice touch that reminded me of home.  Then, to make it even more fun, she included a card that said, “please unwrap your gifts before reading this.” She sure knows how to make gift-opening fun! 🙂

Inside the packages I found homemade poppy seed bread, note cards from the Missouri Farm Bureau, a homemade glass ornament, dark chocolate, recipe cards from the Feisty Farmwife, a Christmas towel and chalk board ornament, a turquoise bracelet, and an awesome barn wood picture frame!

The poppy seed bread was delicious! Since I also am a baker, she wanted me to have fresh baked goods to enjoy. I have never made poppy seed bread before but I may have to give it a try after trying hers. And she won my heart yet again with the dark chocolate – that is my favorite brand so great job, Laurie! (Now I just have to resist eating the whole bar in one sitting!)

To continue on with the food-themed gifts, I absolutely loved the cute recipe cards! Her friend, Lorin put together this collection of recipes from her kitchen that celebrate the seasonal bounty of their homegrown produce and reflect the traditions she experienced growing up in the kitchen with her mom. I can’t wait to try some of these recipes! They will definitely take me back to cooking with my mom and grandmas as a kid.

To give me a little glimpse of what agriculture is like in Missouri, Laurie included a pack of note cards from the Missouri Farm Bureau. The pictures on the front were last year’s winners from the state photo contest. I loved every one of these. The pictures are almost too cute to give away!

Christmas was a little different for my family this year as my sister and her husband were going to be on their honeymoon over Christmas. So to make sure we could all celebrate together before they left, I hosted a dinner for them and my parents at my house the week before Christmas. Laurie’s packaged arrived just in time for me to use the fun Christmas towel and ornament as part of my decorations! The ornament was actually made by her middle child, Kendall as part of a 4-H project and had melted crayons inside to give it the pretty design.

To top everything off, Laurie found a beautiful gold and turquoise bracelet that I can’t wait to wear, and made me a barn wood picture frame with a Purdue button on the bottom!  Laurie, I’m not sure if you saw from my blog or social media that I had barn wood at my wedding, but I absolutely love barn wood! I’m going to have such a hard time choosing what photo to put on it.

Laurie, thank you so much for the thoughtful and creative gifts! You knocked it out of the park! I loved every single one of them and enjoyed getting to learn more about you and your family. I hope you had a wonderful Christmas and look forward to staying in touch!

Finally, I also want to say thank you so much to Kirby Linebach of 15009 Farmhouse , Jamie at This Unchartered Rhoade, and Lara Durben of My Other More Exciting Self for helping Laurie host and organize this fun event!

To see all of the other bloggers who participated, click here for the link up!

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season and I look forward to sharing more blogs with you in 2016!

-Chelsea