15009 Farmhouse: Christmas in the Country Gift Exchange

We have been so blessed with beautiful fall days, cool mornings and warm sunny afternoons have been great. But with that being said, I am ready for some chilly winter days. Snuggling up with a cup of coffee and looking out and seeing big snow flakes sounds like pure perfection right now. That's one thing I love about the Midwest.... Seasons... The hot summers make you appreciate the cozy winters...

I am ready for the Holidays. Thanksgiving is ideally my favorite. Its just about food and family. Not the hustle and bustle that Christmas brings, just turkey, and pie, and more turkey and maybe another slice of pie....

Back to my blog post (is anyone else hungry for pecan pie now)... Last year I participated in the Christmas in the Country Gift Exchange. It was so much fun and the ladies that I met within this gift exchange I have remained in contact with - they are still some of my very favorite follows. And this year, I (along with Lara) was asked to co-host this event with them. What an honor. Laurie and Jamie along with Lara are three of my favorite blogs and follows out there in this social media ag related world. I even got Lara's name last year. Everything I got for her was something I would have gotten for myself. I knew instantly that if her farm backed up to mine we would be drinking wine together... weekly.

Christmas in the Country is a Christmas gift exchange for Agriculture Bloggers. For me personally, it's been to fun to connect with women that have the same interests as I do. It is a great way to connect with bloggers and agvocates across the country. Learning about different farms and expanding my knowledge on agriculture is something I try to do daily.

Here is how it works, there are a few changes from last year....We are doing only bloggers and keeping it in the United States only.

Sign up begins November 20th and goes until November 30th. To sign up we have a form that NEEDS to be filled out along with your address. You will then receive the same information from another blogger. Remember to use the hashtag #citc2015 on all social media posts so we can easily see everything going on with Christmas in the Country.

On December 1st you will receive the name and information about the blogger you will be sending the gift to. This is the fun part and you can start poking around their blog or social media to get to know a little about them and things they might like. We also like to encourage local gifts or homemade items if you feel like your person will like them. I can seriously still taste the homemade salted caramels I received last year.

December 15th is the shipping deadline to ensure delivery before the holidays. I know the Holidays are busy and there is so much going on but please make sure you get your gift to the post office by that date. There have been problems with this in the past and we are trying hard to eliminate that.

We will link up to share a blog post about what you received and this will need to be done from January 5-8. Write a blog post about what you sent, who you sent it too, what you received and who you received it from. I love going through each blog seeing what each person received. I have been so excited about this for a few weeks now. I loved seeing the fun and creative things that everyone came up with to send to each other, especially the ones that sent things from their region or area of the country. It's fun to meet others that farm different things. Sunflowers, Canola, Cotton, Turkeys, the list goes on. I'm a Central Missouri girl so corn and soybeans are my specialty.

This is a busy time of the year, we all understand that but we really stress the importance of making sure you send a gift, that it arrives on time and that you blog about it. That's the fun part of this, so before you commit to doing this please make sure that you can comply with all areas. Everyone takes time out of their busy schedule and money out of their pockets to participate in this and it's only fair that we all participate fully.

I think I have covered everything and we will blog and post about each deadline of the exchange. it might all sounds like a little much right now, we just try to cover all areas at first. If you should have any questions please feel free to contact any of us. See below for our e mail addresses.

Kirby Lichte               kirbylinebach@gmail.com
Lara Durben   ldurben @charter.net
Laurie Link                laurie.link @gmail.com
Jamie Rhoades thisuncharteredrhoade@gmail.com

November 20th is fast approaching so be on the lookout. Have a great rest of your week.

We have fall anhydrous ammonia in full force around here, so it's been a busy one. (I have literally been trying to write this post for 6 hours. :)