Six gifts. Three per child. One birth of our Savior. Priceless.
Our Christmas is magical. Just hanging out, enjoying the gifts, each other. That is the gift of Christmas. The new toys are great, but they are just a small part of our celebration each year.
Shay wanted a tent she saw in her American Girl catalogue. She also saw a bed in there she wanted, and of course, a long list of other things that excited her. However, the camping scene and bed were on top of the list. I came up with a table and chairs set with my materials I had leftover. So, after all the little extras I came up with, and with cloth I had from leftover projects, I stayed well below my $100 budget for her. (Extras were a working campfire, and a lantern, sleeping bag and pillows.)
Charlie is incredibly hard to shop for. However, I have learned how to get him excited about something. Suggest it months in advance. After I saw the PVC pipe fort/playhouse tutorial on Pinterest.com last summer, I knew it would be perfect. Luckily, he wanted a fort, after the suggestion, and that is what set me thinking up the girl child's gifts. Thanks Pinterest.com! I was digging though a box I put together for camping, if we should ever need to do it, and found an Eddie Bauer hand crank, LED lantern, with a head lamp, new, still in the box. That would be perfect to gift him! Charlie needed a replacement Leapster, and those were a Black Friday deal at $20. I had to buy two king, flat sheets, and sewed those together for the fort covering. We found a rope set of light on sale for $7, and now he has light, shelter, and Leapster fun for hours. (Yes, way under the $100 budget for him too!)
The stockings were stuffed with sweets, a stuffed sock monkey that is now one of the doll's bedtime lovies, and a friend to all of Charlie's other little friends. Shay received some extra things for her doll in the stocking, since they were super cheap finds at the craft store this past summer. (A pair of doll roller blades for a few dollars, as well as a leotard/skirt set and a formal gown with matching gloves and shoes.) All that was super cheap, and I feel like she deserves a little more, since she is no longer attending dance, and we are still paying for Charlie each month to go to gymnastics. Charlie didn't notice it, and truth is, she never asks for anything. This year, she told me that she was not going to ask for anything from Santa Claus, or her elf. She said that whatever they thought she would like, she would be grateful for. And truth is, she saw everything and said, "Look! I got all that I really wanted! The bed is not the same, but I still love it!" I am so glad I got that on video.
It reminds me of my hearts' desire to have children. I had many miscarriages, and it was so painful. My mother likes to remind me of how I used to say that my prayer was to have any child. Any issue, any sex. (Secretly, I only wanted boys. I don't like girl stuff, or dealing with girls in general.) I found that I had an endocrine disorder during one of the miscarriages, and finally, a solution to how to save my pregnancies. Charlie was born, and 5 months later, I found out I was preggers again. We call that shocker, "Shayna." I never wanted a girl. And today, as I had realized years ago, the baby was not the same sex as I thought I wanted, but I still love it!" And I do. G-d knows what our heart NEEDS. I a so grateful for the girl in my life. I relate with Charlie so differently, and feel so abundantly blessed to have the opportunity to have EVERYTHING I have ever imagined for myself. Thank you family for being there for me. Merry Christmas!
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| All three of the girl migit's gifts. |
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| Stockings for the migits and furry baby. |
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| The campfire is built on a blank CD foundation, with rocks and sticks Charlie and I gathered at the cabin last week, and has a cut out under the A-frame in the hole of the CD that the battery operated tea light sits into. |
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| Just happened to find the Eddie Bauer hand crank lantern and head lamp still in it's box, in the garage! Made the most complimentary gift to his new tent/fort/playhouse structure. |
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| The rope light really made this. I just bought two king size sheets and sewed them together to make one large sheet. Covers perfectly. |
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| The lantern looks so great inside the tent! (The battery operated tea light saved these projects!) |
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