NOTE: This giveaway is now closed. Thanks to all of you who entered! The winners have been notified, and they are #464 (Natalie), #1151 (Wendy), and #1307 (Gloria). Y’all have 48 hours to respond before we pick new winners! 🙂
I have a confession for you all and I hope it’s not too shocking: I am not a fan of jam. Not a jam fan. I like homemade freezer jam because it basically tastes like sweetened fruit, but most jam is just too sweet and sickly and cooked fruit-ish for me. If you’re dying to know what I put on toast or peanut butter sandwiches, I like butter on toast and honey on my sandwiches. Am I weird?
Well, I thought I hated all regular jam until I went to Smucker’s last month and I got to try their Orchard’s Finest preserves (and then discovered, in a cruel twist of fate, that they don’t sell it where I live). Even the names are pretty–Pacific Mountain Strawberry and Coastal Valley Peach Apricot and North Woods Blueberry and Fall Harvest Cinnamon Apple. And the jars? 
Don’t even get me started on the jars. Y’all know how I feel about adorable jars and bottles.
I love this jam because not only does it taste fabulous, but it’s fancier than your average jar of jam, so it’s great for holiday entertaining or gift-giving. Instead of just handing someone a jar of jam (anyone remember the Gilmore Girls where Rory and Lorelai forgot to get Luke a present in Europe, so they brought him a jar of jam and he found it lame?), you could fill line a basket with a festive tea towel and then fill it fresh croissants or homemade rolls and then add a jar of jam with a ribbon on it.
Or you could make a plate of these cookies and deliver them with a jar of jam and a copy of the recipe.
If you’re having a party, you could serve up a plate of crackers and slices of crusty bread with some of your favorite cheeses and a few jars of jam. It’s elegant and easy and requires zero to little prep (which is totally what I need right now!)
Because it’s getting close to Christmas and because it’s Thursday (which has always been my favorite day…don’t ask…), we’re giving away 3, count ’em, three of the following gift baskets:
-6 jars of Smucker’s Orchard’s Finest preserves in a cute little crate
-A set of spreading tools (or something similar)
-$100 gift card to Cooking.com
To enter, leave us a comment telling us how you’re getting into the holiday spirit right now! You need to respond here on this post in the comments section, not through email or on Facebook or Twitter. The giveaway is a short one! It will end next Tuesday, December 13 and the winners will be announced on Wednesday morning.
**Thank you to all who entered! This giveaway is now closed!**
Wow, what an amazing giveaway, I can’t wait to find and try that jam! I am trying to do little activities with my kids that are holiday themed, we have made and decorated cut out sugar cookies and painted ornaments this week!
Trying to get all the shopping done.
Listening to Christmas carols and keeping up with wrapping the presents every day as the UPS man drops them off 🙂
Making new ornaments.
Baking lots of treats with my toddlers and stuffing my 9 month pregnant self with them as well!
I am trying to get things done early this year, so I will be able to really enjoy the week before Christmas with my family instead of feeling all stressed out trying to get last minute stuff done. I even got most of my presents wrapped last night (which I am usually doing on Christmas eve)
My family makes about 12 pumpkin logs you give to friends and neighbors
With christmas music playing, hot cocoa sipping, and today as a family
Driving to Vegas for some fun family time…I love Christmas!
We decorated our Christmas tree the other day, which made our world 100% more festive than it had been, and I’ve already baked and given away 2/3 of a batch of my grandmother’s Danish Christmas bread.
Can I mention we are totally out of jam right now, and at 6 months pregnant, I don’t feel like making more freezer jam right now?????
I’m getting into the holiday spirit by making cookies with red and green M&M’s!
I’ve got my tree up, my presents bought and have stocked up on stuff to make for goodies.
Watching Christmas movies, buying gifts, and trying to remember the TRUE meaning of Christmas. Life is Good 🙂
This very minute I’m getting into the Holiday spirit by making Chex Muddy Mix and putting them into OBB tins (adapted from the Mother’s Day tins) 😉
Carols, cooking, crafting, decorating! Does it get any better than that? I think not!
Working on neighbor gifts, sewing, buy presents, struggling with our Christmas card, shopping, listening to good ol’ Bing Crosby croon out those Christmas carols!
We are enjoying the season by making Holiday treats. We make homemade english toffee for all our neighbors it’s a fun tradition.
we are all home sick with a bad cold, so we are all enjoying being in our PJ’s with the Christmas lights on, and the Christmas music playing, and the kids love watching Christmas movies. Forced family time:)
I’m listening to my Christmas Pandora station at work 🙂 and (don’t laugh) cutting off a link from our Countdown to Christmas paper chain… you know, like the ones we used to make in Primary? Yeah, we have one of those in the office!
We are not getting ready at all yet! My daughter is doing a big service project for the huricane victims and my living room, family room and van are full of christmas gifts for the children affected! We may not every get a tree up I think!!! lol
I am getting into the holiday spirit by decorating my home with my favorite Christmas things, AND this year I have hired a young woman who is getting a new business going for herself. She will be putting white lights in my backyard trees. This is a first for me and I’m quite excited to have a winter wonderland throughout not only the holidays, but all winter long!
My method this year of getting into the holiday spirit is crocheting a number of scarves for the families my company adopted for christmas. We only just moved into a new house the week before thanksgiving so its been difficult for me to be in the cooking mode yet.
I am listening to Christmas music on Pandora while working.
Decorating my tree and apartment…and lots of baking 🙂
We just moved states and our new apartment has no where for me to display my Christmas decorations, and my husband prefers not to get a tree till we have our own home, so any chance I get I’m listening and singing along to Christmas songs with my baby!
I love Christmas music, cool weather, wrapping presents, giving gifts, decorating for Christmas, baking, candy making, fudge, toffee, hot cocoa, and hot apple cider. Singing…..these are a few of my favorite things…..
I have my holiday movie selection ready to pop into the DVD player and fix a cheese plate, grab a glass of wine for me and apple cider for the hubby.
I always have a Cookie Exchange the first week of December, which forces me to get my house decorated for Christmas over Thanksgiving weekend. It’s great to have a whole month of Christmas!
I am a firm believer in not beginning celebrations for Christmas until after Thanksgiving. That being said… I’ve been baking every week (good thing I work or it would be daily!) and I’ve already got my Christmas cards out! What hasn’t happened is the tree which greatly upsets me. I have a perfect pre-lit tree that gets covered in purple and silver ornaments. It’s not up bc my three year old keeps getting sick!! You know how they can be needy to begin with so of course it’s amplified by feeling icky :-(. Fingers are crossed for no more vomit today! That would be a wonderful gift for me this year! So until then my holiday is on hold. In the meantime, I am compiling my list of baked goodies and kiddie craft projects to try to squeeze in!
I have Christmas music on almost 24 hours a day and I’m knitting mittens for all of my nieces and nephews!
We have an advent calendar, of course, and we are baking nonstop.
I listen to Christmas music at work and in the car starting on the Friday after Thanksgiving. Always puts me in the mood!