Stop on by the DIY Dreamer today where I am Christine’s featured guest! You can also enter the giveaway on her site for a snazzy jazzy clutch purse, made by your truly. But don’t just stop by for those reasons. Christine has some fabulous tutorials and other wonderful sponsors that also have brilliant things to say that you’ll definitely want to catch.
Without further ado, here is the post as shown on the DIY Dreamer, minus the giveaway…
It’s getting closer and closer! If you celebrate Christmas, your house is probably all a bustle right now just like mine. In the Ferguson household, we aim to make all of our gifts for one another each year. This includes extended family. Last year, we did it! We made every single gift. This year we are at about 90%, but that’s still good, right? Those gifts that we don’t make we buy at handmade stores, such as Etsy to give those wonderful people our support. Anyway, the workshop is buzzing over here!
This year is fun because our three girls can help a little more. They want to be right at the sewing machine with me or painting along side of me. It’s precious. Chloe (almost 6) has such a giving heart. Yesterday she asked me, “On Christmas morning will everyone have a gift for everyone else?” When my answer was “yes,” she immediately got a little panicked because she doesn’t have a gift made for all of her extended family. So, of course today we are getting started on something special for them, just from her.
You may wonder why we make our gifts. I guess I could tell you that going to the big retailers takes away from the beautiful parts of Christmas and adds in some that I don’t appreciate–the part where everyone is pushing and shoving at the store to get all the “must haves” that someone out there has decided were the big items this year, giving us more of a greedy feeling than giving. I could say that we don’t want to support all the big retailers who hype up every holiday to make you feel like you have to get their stuff. But really, as I have found in years past, I have such a good time making each gift special for each person who receives it. As I sit down to make a present, I spend every moment thinking of that person and just how to make it perfect for them.
My niece Ana has been eyeing up our growth chart for months now. Every time she comes for a sleep over she says, “Aunt Christy, will you make me one of those?” Of course! And while each gift does take much more time than making a list and taking a trip to the store, it is quite worth it. Planning begins much earlier for us as we have to accomodate this time involved in order to finish “elving” by the time Christmas comes. It becomes a fun, family event, which I’m hoping lasts many years for us and gives our children a different idea of giving gifts at Christmas time. And, for those who may be concerned that I am saying it is wrong to purchase gifts at the store, fear not! I don’t feel that way at all. It’s not possible for everyone to do things this way, but I am thankful that our little family does gift giving this way.
Several years ago, we were so super poor that when Christmas was approaching I had no idea how we were going to make gifts happen. And we only had one kid then! So, I made just about every gift that year. Scott and I gave Chloe a book and each other nothing and made sure we had something for the rest of the fam. Now it has become a tradition! One that I am enjoying immensely and I am thrilled to pass on to my 3 (soon to be 4) little lovelies.
Thank you for letting me share with you today. Stop on by Whimsical Whimsies when you have a chance. I wish each of you a very Merry Christmas filled with blessings and special traditions!
