Our Lutheran church had its Sunday service a day early (today). It was wonderful watching my daughter’s choir perform (along with the other groups). More important the pastor preached an excellent sermon. Then again he always does, but it was nice to see so many new faces hearing the message. Our Lutheran church had five services available throughout the day; 10:00, 1:00, 3:00, 8:00, and 10:00
Although not the official day of his birth, Christmas in our household is a time to recognize Christ’s birth. Along with his birth we talk about the story of Christ’s birth, death, and resurrection. It’s a great chance for us to reflect on what Christ has done for us which is indeed the true meaning of Christmas.
Creating crafted gifts for Christmas
In my household, it’s become a tradition to make hand-crafted items for one another. As I type this, I noticed that my daughter has added a few items under the tree bearing my name and I’m eager to see what she’s created. She’s quite the talented artist, and I’m hoping she’s created something that I can grace one of my bedroom walls — but I’ll be happy with anything she has created for me.
Our Christmas tradition of making items for one another began a few years ago. I created my three-year old daughter a “design studio” where her creative talent could soar. I set aside a space in her room, complete with easel, shelves, construction and printer paper. Additional Items such as colored pencils, crayons, markers, and watercolors were purchased from the store — but the majority of the items were made by myself.
This year, all the items that I placed under the Christmas tree, were handmade. I’m actually proud of that fact, since some years I had a mixture. A lot of thought, time and effort are put into the items I create. I want people to feel special. I make items I know they want. So no… I don’t make items because I’m too cheap to purchase anything. They’re definitely high quality items. I do spend money to purchase the materials I need to craft items, once you factor in the time it takes me to make some of the crafts it would have been easier to purchase something, but in my opinion, it wouldn’t be as special.
Christmas: A bit of Commercialism
A few days after Christmas, my daughter and I do visit a few stores. I give her an allowance of what she can spend. It’s not excessive, but she’s happy and is thrilled that she can pick out her own gifts.
You see the above picture, those ornaments were made from soda cans. I’d planned on writing a tutorial post before Christmas, but the past few days I haven’t been on the computer to much, and so that tutorial will have to wait a bit longer.
Merry Christmas, Opal! Hope you and your daughter have a very special holiday! *Hugs*
kaozz recently posted..Merry Christmas
Hiya @kaozz,
We’ve had so much fun. My daughter loved her gifts and tomorrow we’ll go to the store so she can pick out a few bought gifts.
I hope you and your family had a lovely Christmas!
Aynaria recently posted..A Merry Christmas and unexpected visitors
Merry Christmas – home made is great and nice to go to the after Christmas sales as well – a great way to stretch a dollar. One of my daughters has gotten into simple crochet and made me a scarf and Mike some salsa – the other didn’t have time to make things but picked out simple things she knew we would like. You are teaching your daughter right from the start – it is amazing how many have wish list that can run into hundreds of dollars!
Karen
Karen recently posted..Christmas Eve
Hi @Karen,
Judging by your posts, it looks as if you and your loved ones had a lovely Christmas. A scarf and salsa those sound like lovely gifts. I like both.
My daughter has been wanting me to teach her crochet. I’ve taught her the simple chain stitch, but as for the other stitches… I’ve told her to wait a bit longer. I want to be fairly certain of what I’m doing before I try to teach her. Today I had a lot of downtime, and so I made another hat for one of her Monster High dolls while we watched How the Grinch Stole Christmas.
Regarding the handmade gifts…
The only way I was able to make so many hand made items this year, was to start doing it months in advance. 🙂 The past years, I’ve wanted to make so much more but time has always gotten away from me. This year, I promised myself to start months in advance. I’m so glad I did. The past few months have been hectic, and I wouldn’t have had the time to make many of the handcrafted items for loved ones.
Yep, great sales can be found after Christmas. My daughter is selective, especially as she gets older, and so when it comes to gifts that aren’t clothes (or artist supplies) I always let her pick out her gifts. In that sense, she’s a lot like myself. She loves that. I’d be happy if someone purchased me something I could could craft, like fabric, yarn, beads, etc.,
[…] doo — the rooster cried. I’d like to think he was telling our little community, “Merry Christmas“. He repeated his cry, and I couldn’t help but think he sounded louder than normal, and […]
Sounds like a great Marry Christmas i thought you are both so nicely making Christmas and allot of fun i really happy for SW the Santa that’s was a great looks likes i hope you and your daughter having and allot fun. Thanks
William Anderson recently posted..motivation blog
Hi @William Anderson,
It was an amazing Christmas. I was happy that I was able to make the amount of crafted items that I did this year. In 2012, I’ll be sure to start in the summer-time once again.
Here’s hoping you and your loved ones had a glorious Christmas, and a wonderful new year.
LOVE these!!!! LOVE that you reused the cans, too!!! Woot!
Jennifer recently posted..Handmade Beads
First of all I would like to greet you Merry Christmas Opal. I really appreciate this idea you have given, it simple to do, and I’m sure that this will make my house more decorative.
Kate Brown Wilson recently posted..Fab Defense
Wow – soda cans? Who would have ever thought? I guess those little cutting machines are much more versatile than I originally thought! Those ornaments look really cool and very original! 🙂
Hi @Teeni, I enjoyed making them. I believe these ornaments were used in my church’s Christmas play. I made several batches during the holidays. 🙂
Aynaria recently posted..Mother’s Day is not this Sunday…