Christmas in the Country Gift Exchange

As I sit here tonight, it’s about 39 degrees and super windy … but it’s not snowing, so for that I lift my Thursday night wine glass in cheers! 

Now just to be clear, I love this time of year – and of course, my favorite holiday, Thanksgiving, is in just two weeks (whaaat?)! But If we can hold off the snow for a few more days (weeks?), I am totally on board with that. It’s Minnesota, after all, so the snow will catch up. Trust me.

What I am completely excited to share with you all tonight is the unveiling of the Christmas in the Country Gift Exchange 2015 for agriculture/farm bloggers. I participated last year and had a blast picking out gifts for a fellow blogger in Washington. And then I received my gift from Kirby over at 15008 Farmhouse and I knew I had found a kindred spirit! Anyone who knows I need a coffee mug that says “There’s a chance this is wine” and an Ina Garten cookbook is my friend for life.

This year, as if once again it was fate, Kirby and I were asked to guest host this gift exchange along with founders Jamie from This Uncharted Rhoade and Laurie from COUNTRY LINKed.  All of these women are amazing and so talented, let me tell you, and they have such fun blogs that you must check out!

Did I mention the three of them are from Missouri? In other words, I’ll need to hold my own up here in the North Country – ha!  I know if I lived closer, we would all get together, enjoy some wine (well, we would after Jamie has her baby!), and behave like the oldest of friends.

So back to the Christmas in the Country Gift Exchange … it’s a wonderful opportunity to meet and connect with new bloggers and really share the holiday spirit. Here are the guidelines for this year:

• Christmas in the Country is an annual gift exchange for Agriculture Bloggers.  It is a great way to engage with others who have the same interests as you and find some new blogs to follow. This is a secret exchange! You will not know who has your name until you receive your gift. Suggested gift value is between $15 and $25.

• Sign up begins November 20th and ends November 30th. To sign up, YOU HAVE to fill out a form giving us some basic information about yourself. This form will be available starting November 20th on any of our blogs. This basic information, your email address and your mailing address with be shared with your secret blogger. You in turn will receive the same information on another blogger.

• All gifts need to be sent by December 15th to ensure delivery before the holidays. There is no exception to this!! Once you have received your gift, reach out to your person through email, their blog or social media to tell them you received it and to thank them. The co-hosts will also want to know that your package was sent and that you then received one as well.

• You will receive the name and information of who you will be sending a gift to on December 1st. Once you have your blogger’s name, then you can begin to learn about them through their blog! While we highly encourage local and homemade gifts, the most important part is to think of a gift that is a great match for your person (are they a baker, photographer, dog lover, obsessed with wine? Do some secret research before you pick your gift!). The more creative and personal the better!!

• Once you receive your gift, please contact your gift giver and thank them for your gift, but hold off on posting until after the holidays. On January 5th-12th we then ask that you share a blog post about what you received and what you learned while participating in CITC. There will be a link-up available for everyone to go to so that all of the participants can see the gift reveals. This is the best part, getting to see what everyone got, so it’s super important that you can make time to blog about it! 

• If you have participated in the past and are exciting to join in the fun again this year, spread the word! Share our blog posts and social media posts (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc.), share the image, and tag all of your posts with #CITC2015!

This year, the gift exchange is for bloggers only and you must live in the U.S. (We love our Canadian blogger friends but shipping can be cost prohibitive so we decided it would be best to make this call. Hopefully our friends to the north will be able to put together their own gift exchange – and let us know if you do!)

A reminder about committing to this gift exchange: We know this is a very busy time of year for all of us, but please know that we really stress the importance of making sure you send a gift to arrive on time, and that you blog about your experience. Be sure you can honor this commitment before agreeing to participate. 

Okay, I’m just so completely excited about the next few weeks – this is going to be fun and I can’t wait to see how this all comes together. Mark your calendars for November 20 when the sign-ups officially begin on our blogs – and please contact any of us if you have questions!