We are way behind this year on preparing Christmas gifts for family and friends. But we are moving along somewhat now. For years, we have been working towards doing a more homemade Christmas. Sometimes I feel bad for wanting this. Like the receiver of our gifts may feel as though we are trying to "save" a few dollars by hand-making gifts. But then I try to bring myself back to why I have this desire.
#1 Every opportunity to give a gift, is an opportunity to sow a "piece of your heart" into someone's life.
This is where I like to show our values and convictions. A chance to plant a seed in another person's life. The two seeds we usually sow are the importance of the assurance of salvation & the blessing of family and working together as a family.
The children are included in every gift we make. And many of the times they've come up with the ideas of what we will make.
#2 we give a chance to our children to have the joy and pride of being part of the gift process.
Our kids get so excited to get in to this. From the planning, to the shopping, to the preparation & and finally the gift wrapping. We create memories and have such a wonderful time!!!
#3 our children learn the gift of giving their time.
This is very important in a fat and age where materialism is so important in society. Teaching them, and us, to value the gift of homemade things, teaches them many things.
#4 we teach out hidden to harness their skills and talents. Do you have a baker in the family ? A knitter? Perhaps an artist? What a blessing to allow our Holden to excell in their gifts to bring joy to others.
This year we are making baskets of homemade mixes that other like of ours.
Homemade buttermilk pancake mix
Old fashioned hit chocolate mix
Sugared apple jellies
Apple butter
Homemade bread
Cinnamon rolls
Homemade pickles
So this year, as we seek to celebrate a homemade Christmas... Let it be a time of the out pouring of love, from our family into the lives of others. Teaching our children to think about others and not get caught up in what they want will bless them for the rest of our lives.
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~Week Ten~
4 hours ago
1 comments:
We are doing homemade hampers this year too, with a bunch of stuff we have made, and then a few little things to supplement (for that little part of me that still worries homemade isn't good enough), for example we have added fancy soaps and licorice to my sister and her fiances basket, and we have added some imported english goodies for my dads hamper, and some coffee beans and trail mix for my sister in law and her husband.
All up they've made some lovely gifts. I'm not sure they're much cheaper! In fact I know they're not, homemade gifts cost a lot of money! But I think they're far more meaningful for all the reasons you've said.
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