Personally, I enjoyed the cool morning, with my newly finished, hand knit sweater, and a stack of packages waiting to be sifted through, presents waiting to be wrapped. We usually make some of our preserves into smaller jars to give as gifts at Christmastime. It is the perfect gift for a teacher or neighbor - consumable, not expensive enough to warrant any strong obligations, and yet very personal; not something we just ran out and got. In addition to the preserves, this year I was inspired by this post to try my hand with vanilla extract. In May, I purchased a pound of organic vanilla beans and split them with a friend (I think they came out to about fifty cents a piece), and bought some vodka. Then some more, then some more. I filled up five quart jars with Fleischmann's Royal Vodka, chopped the ends off of eight beans (per jar), split them lengthwise, and put them in the jars. We gave the jars a little tip or shake every day for a month, and then continued to d