a few blips about Christmas

A Note About Saving Money

If you are like us and have no family near it means shipping all gifts which can be quite expensive. Please take them to a multi-purpose mailing place and get a good price. I found out that shipping the gifts to CA was cheaper when sent via UPS rather than the United States Postal Service.

Fabric Gift Bags!

I love how these turned out and am thrilled by the idea of the reusability and ease of storage. Plus, I have a strong aversion to the activity of gift wrapping - I would rather sew up these bags.



Gifts For Grandparents

For many people shopping for their parents as they get older becomes more and more difficult most older people do not need or want a lot more stuff. I become particularly irritated by my in-laws who really want expensive items and aren't interested anything but how it makes them looks (i.e. my chilren give me such wonderful gifts - I raised them so well). In frustration with my inability to measure up I decided to give them very personal gifts of their grandchildren. I hope that someday my children will receive an ineritance of memory from their grandparents. My in-laws are okay with it and I like to think my Mom loves it.

Often the gifts I make are photo albums or some keepsake or other pertaining to my children. I've done paper mache handprints and this year I got more creative for the girls sake they are getting older and can participate more. They painted shapes and then I painted their hands so that they could handprint them. I wrote their initials and the dates on the plaques.



I started this on C's first Christmas every year the grands get a framed ornament of the girls. I hope that someday it will serve as a unique record of their growth. On our tree I hang an ornament of a family picture and of a picture of the two of them together. When I started this project I had a hard time finding frame ornaments I liked so I decided to simply buy the little frames used for wallet pictures. I remove the kickstand, drill some holes for ribbon and tada!!