I like to make good use of what I already have for the good of the environment and the budget. This year I challenged myself and was determined not to buy any wrapping supplies but only to use what I already had. Since I save every piece of ribbon, I had plenty to make the gifts look lovely. We were going to be driving from Florida to Ohio and I wanted all the gifts to be in boxes for easy & safe transport. I kept a few boxes that new shoes came in as well as check boxes and any other box that I thought would work.
After I packed each gift in the smallest box possible (many of them without tissue paper- I decided it was unnecessary), my husband did the wrapping. I was then the finisher and decorator of each gift. I made gift tags using the front of Christmas cards we received in years past, white business cards that were leftover from a work project, rubber stamps, fabric, tags I bought at the office supply store, and of course, leftover ribbon.
One of my favorite gifts this year is a yellow & white fabric wrapping containing handmade cards & stationary, with a tag made of a Christmas card front that has been circulating my family for years.
I should mention that my husband’s family birthday tradition generally involves gifts wrapped in pillowcases to avoid using wrapping paper. Because her birthday is Christmas Eve, I always wrap my sister-in-law’s birthday gift in paper. This year hers is wrapped in heart paper and the tag is from the front of a Christmas card she made & sent us a few years ago.
I enjoyed the challenge this year and will definitely be saving ribbon and cards this Christmas to use next year.
I am the type of person that in the midst of a crisis needs to “do” something. It is how I deal with my feelings of worry, angst and how I regain control of my mind, refocusing my energies to deal with the task at hand.
I pull weeds in my garden instead of pulling out my hair. I clean and organize because clearing out clutter around me relieves stress. I journal, the metaphoric brain dump onto paper, which helps me think clearer. And…. I quilt, making tiny stitches and seams, which is my way of holding it all together. I do it faithfully when things are peachy, and obsessively in the midst of a crisis.
So when we learned that my husband’s Mother had fallen very ill and was going to have open heart surgery, I knew I had to do something. After talking to her to figure out what we needed to do, she preferred to have us to take care of her other son, who has Down Syndrome. She told me that he became very worried at her appointments to the point of anxiety and it would do him good to visit his niece and nephew. Further, because we have two little ones, we couldn’t really be present for the surgery. The thought of us not being there for her surgery made me want to give her something handmade to snuggle with.
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My sisters and I, in the 1980's, Dressed in lovely pink sweat suits that Mama embellished to make into our bunny halloween costumes. What you can't see is our furry cottontails that were cleverly sewn onto our bottoms.
It usually happened throughout the night. I never really knew that it was going on, because at that age, I was snuggled in my twin bed between my Rainbow Bright sheets without a care in the world other than which pair of Keds I would wear to school the next day. But I always saw the fruits of her labor the next morning. Halloween Costumes. Dresses. Bunny Cakes. Hair Bows. Stockings. My Mama was crafty.
As the mom of three little girls she certainly had an inspiring canvas. One Easter, she made the three of us matching dresses with lovely crisp white collars. We still have the home video on VHS. As the oldest, it was my job to hold the others little hands so that they would stand still enough to get video footage of her hard work. The three of us, standing in a row, holding hands as blue morning glories danced about our handmade skirts was a sight to behold.
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