It's been an interesting exercise helping them come up with ideas for each of their siblings that each of them could accomplish with their own two hands. Some of them have struggled with the idea and others have flourished with it and have their gifts already completed. All in all the idea has been received well and has served as a conversation instigator in several ways providing opportunity to examine our desires for all the latest and greatest gadgets and gizmos and what it is we really "need".
It's so easy to fall into the norm of letting our "wanter" get the best of us. At the end of the year last year I had plans to buy all new ornaments for our tree this year (every year we choose a new theme to decorate around). It was then that I was hit with the idea of a homemade Christmas. As I browsed the after-holiday sales searching for something new I realized that I didn't need anything new. I was letting my "wanter" get out of control. Now, there's nothing wrong, necessarily, with buying new ornaments and decor (especially if it's at 70-90% off!), but why did I feel like I "needed" to do so every single year? What I really needed was to examine my reasoning behind the purchase.
I was reminded of Ma and Pa and Laura and Mary out on the prairie and how simple their Christmases were, yet they were still so full of love and joy and giving and sharing. Then I thought back on all my favorite Christmas memories. Not one of them was really about how pretty the tree was or how I got the newest and coolest thing that year like all my friends. What I remember most is spending time together with my family sharing memories of all kinds and baking and blessing each other.
We gave a lot of handmade things as gifts in my family both as a choice and a necessity financially. Being raised by a single mother who grew up on a rural farm that was pioneered back in the day, there is a rich heritage of self-reliance and the handmade lifestyle laced throughout my ancestry (which accounts for my love of crafting).
Oh sure, I am charmed by the new iPads and Kindles and whatnot just like the rest of the world, but what I really appreciate are the things that I know someone has poured hours of their time and attention into creating with their own resources and their own two hands. Those are the things I love best. Sure, I would love to have the new iPad like so many of my friends and acquaintances have. Yes, I would certainly not turn down a gift of a Nook color or be thankful for an Xbox 360 to fulfill my oldest son's wish list and my husband would most certainly love an enormous new TV to watch Oregon Duck football on, but in reality those things are temporary. Next year there will be a newer, better model of each of them, yet there will never be anything more precious to me than each and every stitch in the 3 generation quilt my grandmother and I made together out of the scraps of one of my mother's old patchwork projects. I still own that quilt. It's probably my most treasured possession, especially now that both my grandmother and mother have passed away. Nothing about that quilt will ever be newer and better, yet it is such a treasure to me that I plan on handing it down to my daughter who will hopefully hand it down to hers one day and so on until it disintegrates with all the love it holds inside.
This year I hope I am helping my kids see that there can be just as much joy in the simplicity of our gifts to each other as there can be in receiving whatever is at the top of our "wish list" each year. It is a gift more valuable than any other thing I could give them. To teach them to share the treasure inside themselves with someone else. I hope each of you have a wonderful Christmas this year. Maybe you can share some of the treasure that's inside you with someone too.
Blessings to you and Merry Christmas,
