We absolutely love the holiday season in our house. It always brings such a sense of warmth, happiness, and love to our lives every year, and we think that one of the reasons we feel so much joy during the holidays is that it gives us the opportunity to be reminded of the people in our life that have given so much to us over the last year, whether it was their friendship, time, support or just some simple kindness. We think about how much we appreciate them and how much we love and adore them. So when JCPenney challenged us to #GiftToast someone in our life that was deserving, we jumped at the chance to spread the love and started scheming right away!

There are so many people in our life that deserve a #GiftToast this year, but one person that really stands out is our friend Andrea. She’s one of those selfless people that’s always putting everyone else’s needs before her own, and who’s always the first person to jump in and offer a helping hand or a supportive word when you need it the most. When any special occasion comes up in the lives of the people she loves, she doesn’t just send the obligatory “congratulations” or “happy birthday” text; she bakes or cooks her way into you heart and brings you a sweet treat or a meal she knows you’ll absolutely love. And trust us when we tell you… this woman is seriously gifted in the kitchen. She’s also a mom of two and recently went back to work after having her second child, which as any of you working moms out there know, can be pretty tough, both emotionally and physically. Andrea is always juggling ten things at once and doing it all with the utmost enthusiasm and passion, and if anyone deserves a #GiftToast this holiday season, it’s her!

Knowing that one of Andrea’s very favorite things is to be in the kitchen, and also knowing that she would never go out and buy herself some much needed new kitchen gadgets, we decided to surprise her with an amazing assortment of KitchenAid® items from JCPenney, which is the perfect holiday gift giving destination. There’s such an incredible selection of KitchenAid products at both JCP.com and in JCPenney stores and at such great prices that it made the whole process of finding just the right gifts for such a special person in our lives so much fun for us! Since Chris is our resident foodie and I’m basically at a loss when it comes to identifying all of the crazy kitchen gadgets and their respective purposes, he had to explain to me why certain items were “SO cool!” to have around the house. Luckily, Chris and Andrea speak the same language on that front, so when he started going on about the importance of a box grater in one’s kitchen arsenal, I knew we’d hit the jackpot.

Once we curated our gift set and Chris nearly had a gift-wrapping meltdown (it’s OK, babe… we can’t all be as gifted at wrapping as me), we started plotting a way to give Andrea the surprise to end all surprises, and ambush her at work when she’d least expect it. And we’ve got to say, with the help of our little elf Hamlet, we got her so good!

Check out the video to see all of the action, including a look at all of the amazing JCP items we gifted Andrea, Chris’ wrapping shenanigans, our tiny little mistletoe intermission, Hamlet in his holiday sweater and of course, Andrea’s face when we showed up at her office with one epic #GiftToast!

The items we included in Andrea’s #GiftToast:

KitchenAid® Gourmet Grater & Zester
KitchenAid® 4-pc. Kitchen Tool Set
KitchenAid® Food Chopper
KitchenAid® Box Grater

 To check out all of the KitchenAid® items available at JCPenney and great holiday gift ideas from brands like Nike, Levi’s, Keurig, and more, just head over to their website and follow them on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, Youtube, and Google+!

To enter for a chance to win a $100 JCPenney gift card, tell me in the comments below, who in your life do you want to #GiftToast and why?

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