Christmas Elves workshop

We're at Ellen's sister Ann's for Thanksgiving weekend, and today, Friday, we all helped Ann's husband Dave put together a large order of Christmas gift baskets that he needed to send out next week. Dave and his brother Brian own and operate Greene Brothers Coffee Roasters, where they roast their own beans and have two "Greene's Beans" retail shops in northwest New Jersey. Gift baskets are something they do mostly at this time of year, and we were happy to help them.

Here are Ellen and Ann in the Elves' Workshop packing baskets. On the right are the 59 shipping boxes I've just prepped.

The baskets first had to be partially filled with straw-like "green fluff," and the first item in was a ceramic coffee mug with some bagged tea.

Ellen and Ann continued filling baskets with more goodies: a bag of coffee beans, cookies, chocolate, cocoa, honey, and several kinds of candy.

Here are some filled baskets ready for wrapping.

In addition to organizing the workshop and the making of decorative bows, Ina was the only one of us any good at wrapping the baskets in cellophane.

She gave the wrapped baskets to me, and I cut off the excess cellophane, tied on the decorative bows, and put the baskets in the shipping boxes. Dave then added the gift labels and closed them up.

Fifty-nine boxes filled in three hours, and the workshop was declared closed for the weekend. A good effort by all!