True Gifts of the Holidays

We never had a lot of money to use for gifts for the Holidays in our family. There have been times I minded that, when I wanted the newest what-ever as a teen, particularly.   I also minded when I wanted to go out and buy all sorts of stuff for my children. Now? I have a very different perspective.

Those years of making things for Christmas, keeping the secret of what I was making from others, the small noises behind closed doors that signaled someone was working on something exciting, built an air of anticipation that was palpable. Just like making Christmas in “Little House on the Prairie”, each of us found time to do something special for the others in the family.

Making gifts for the others in our far flung family was also both time consuming and rewarding. One year we made soft stuffed cloth mobiles for the family on the East coast. We lived in the desert at the time and had an assortment of cactus, lightening and thunder, sun, moon, and coyote hanging from a branch. Another time I made pot holders of old jeans padded with an worn out cotton mattress pad and decorated with various motifs: pears, cherries, braid, stars, and apples. Some of these are still in use 30 years later! There were wall hangings, sweaters, mittens cut from old sweaters, and knit scarfs. Some years focused on elderberry jelly, spiced peach jam and various chutneys. There was even the year of homemade Kahlua!

I remember my Mother and Father making screen printed Christmas cards, carved wooden reindeer, and lots of different Christmas cookies. My grown children still ask for the Swedish wreath of sweet dough, raisins, and pecans that was always a holiday tradition when I was a girl. I’ll be making it again this year for Christmas morning! Yum Yum!

In our large family (we are up to 20) there is a premium on creativity. There is a tradition of re-gifting (I loved this, and I hope you like it too) and passing stuff down (younger cousins always love the books, toys, and treasures from older cousins).  We also love second-hand stores, unusual clothing, and funny surprises.

This year we are doing something really special. Each of the ‘kids’ is writing a story from the days of the Green Van and my oldest daughter is putting it together with old pictures as a book for each of us. We are so excited by this it has taken on a life of its own! What an exciting project, and what a lovely present! You can’t find this in any store nor get it for love nor money – unless you put the time into it and make it yourself.

And that, my friends, is Christmas! We do get a few things for the kids to play with, and Santa always comes! There is an orange in the toe, a silly game, a special food, and we always hope for the bit of music, the new puzzle, a good book and a warm fire to toast our toes by after a while. The real joy comes from not having to go out shopping, no frantic tally of who gets what, and the steady joy of doing something for someone that cannot be duplicated anywhere else.

Peace, friends! Joy of the season, a joy that comes from the return of the Light after the darkest day of the year! A gathering of hearts and kids and the warmth of remembrance for what has been; a pure wish for what is most dear to us all for the future; and a great love for what is now! That’s what this Holiday season is all about! It has been celebrated since the beginning of our human family, embroidered on by life and times, and still holding true today. Gift yourself with pleasure in the love that is in your life. Create a special moment of surprise for those you love, and leave out a plate of cookies for Santa, and a few carrots for the reindeer.