Why?
Because Christmas is hovering closer and closer and I'm busy working on stuff for everyone! OK, not everyone. Not every person appreciates a hand made gift. But hopefully I can find a few people that appreciate some gift made with love.
So I've been making more signs to sell on Craigslist (sold one for $20! woohoo!) and creating a stained glass project that's been waaayyy out of my normal comfort level. Plus, planning more projects that will come after I finish this round.
My "teaser" photo. This is just one of the many I have to create and then put together to make one piece. I'm scared. Sorry it's all goopy. I didn't clean the flux off.
On top of that, I'm making a monster hat for Halloween, working on some Halloween lights and trying to finish a Halloween sign.
AND THEN- I still have a door to sand, a fireplace mantel piece to work on and a headboard and foot board that need some attention.
While I'm doing all this- I'm raising 3 kids, trying to work on a puzzle (go ahead...call me a nerd), clean the house, manage my laundry pile, planning a couple Halloween parties and make time for eating.
I'm apparently a little busy. But it's my own fault...I put too much on my plate and I actually like it that way sometimes. I like making to-do lists and knocking them out. It gives me a sense of purpose.
We are also planning something new for Christmas this year. Well, two things actually.
#1- A new way of doing Christmas to prevent it from getting out of hand. Last year I went shopping on Black Friday (my favorite day of the year) and bought so much stuff I was SURE the kids would LOVE for Christmas. Turns out, after all that trouble, money and wrapping, I'm already giving a TON of toys away because they never touched half of it. Evan just tore through gifts like he wasn't even seeing them and I felt like I spent so much time picking out the PERFECT gifts! I thought for sure he would spend the appropriate amount of time oohing and ahhing over the gifts. Nope.
So we've (my husband is totally on board-less money= happy husband) decided to try something new.
I found this on Pinterest and gave you the link as well. This will help us focus a little bit and not just go crazy with "I want, I want, I want". My 5 -year old could sit down with one of the MILLION toy catalogues that find their way to our home and circle every toy he wants with a marker, then hands them out when people come to visit.
We are also asking each family member to keep it to a 1 toy- per child. Our kids don't need much. Not more toys anyway. Maybe some socks. Mittens and hats are always welcome, since they are the first to go missing.
And with my husband, I figure 1 gift for each of us is good enough. I have a hard enough time buying him something as it is. He's the HARDEST person to shop for EVER. Seriously. EVER. He tends to pick the most random stuff off of ebay or wants a very specific or very expensive tool that I could never find or buy or bring home without him knowing. I could physically harm him except that I actually managed to find him something he wants this year. So there, Jalon =P.
#2. The other new item we are trying this year is RACK.
This makes me very happy and excited for December!
It stands for Random Acts of Christmas Kindness. It's going to take over our advent calendar this year. And it's going to show my 5 year old what Christmas should really be about. I want him to appreciate the giving portion of Christmas more than the getting. The twins will be involved in this as well, but being 2 years old, they may just end up eating more of the donations than anything else.
This is the original link that I found online. But there are tons of people out there that do this and have so many wonderful ideas. I have a list of 25 things we will be doing. I actually have a list that's more like 30 items, so we might end up doing 2 on one day, depending on what's going on.
Unlike the blogger above, I don't have tons of money to buy/give, so I'm going to donate my time or items that I have here. If you're like me and maybe don't have a lot, donate time instead. Or items you no longer use/need in your home. Like instead of Starbucks gift card handouts, I'll see if the women's shelter needs donations. Or if we can spend a couple hours at our local food shelf.
We will be making tons of cookies/cakes/goodies to take to firefighters, police station and to Evan's school. He's very excited to take it to the firefighters and police station, he's hoping they'll let him stay and play.
I'm working on being more involved on Christmas. Not just spending all my time on shopping (which I hate) on gifts that aren't really needed. And I really want my kids raised with the belief that Christmas isn't about presents or what Santa will bring you this year.
I also encourage you all to join us. Maybe create your own list or come with us when we do ours. We're going to spread some Christmas joy this year and hope it's as contagious as the flu.
You my dear are inspiring and very encouraging! A couple years ago my husband and I decided that we weren't going into debt for Christmas, if we can't pay cash for it we don't need it, no credit cards will be used for Christmas! We also decided that the day we spoil our children is not on Christmas but on their birthdays, birthdays are about them specifically.... not to mention our children rarely go without anyway the amount of things they get throughout the year can be a bit on the disgusting side! We want our kids to know that Christmas is about extending our good fortune to those who have little to nothing. We want our kids to of course know that Christmas is about Jesus, some may not agree with or like that or even believe but we do and we will teach our children that we believe.
ReplyDeleteWe generally don't do alot in the area of gifts because again Christmas is not about "TOYS" so we will do as you have so amazingly suggested, we will give to others, baked goods, hand crafted little goodies, and services that we can render to help others. One thing I think we will do is go serve others at the shelters, I think that my oldest will really benefit from that task. Making a list is a great idea!!!
A couple years ago my parents decided as well that they were not going to shower their grandchildren with tons of toys and gifts, instead they use the money that they would have bought toys with and the donate that money in the childrens names to a family or families that could really use a helping hand, and I love that my parnets do that.
What I would like to do for my children this year is to get them each a hope chest and start putting their keep sakes in them and continue to do that till they graduate and then give them the chests as a graduation present! I have wanted to do that the past few years and haven't this year I will....
So thanks for your ideas, encouragement and selflessness, my family and I will follow suit!
Happy giving to your family!
For our home, Christmas is also about Jesus. I'm hoping my kids pick up on that at an early age. We are going to include scripture with our cards and pray about our "missions" the night before. I'm hoping that this becomes a yearly tradition in our home.
DeleteI love the idea of the hope chest. That's a cute idea!