The Best Gifts

My dad always said that the best gifts are homemade. He lived by that too. Every Christmas the family would look forward to the hand crafted surprises made with love by him. His last career (of many) was working as a cabinet maker and kitchen remodeler. On Christmas Eve there would often be some new pieces of furniture or cabinetry with a big red bow, everything from footstools, sewing cabinets, baby cradles, to TV entertainment centers. Dad was also an amateur oil painter and sometimes had a new work to give. Another of his hobbies was collecting rocks, typically agates, that he would polish and with which he would make jewelry. When I was a teenager I followed his lead and presented crocheted shawls and afghans as gifts.

Dad's philosophy sprung from his youth when he grew up in northern Minnesota in a family that was short on money but long on talent and ingenuity. He told how at Christmas the big brothers would take a well used toy truck and fix it up, give it a new coat of paint and present it to the littlest brother as a new gift. Any of the years that the family was struggling stood out in memory as one most full of love at Christmas.

Our youngest boys are getting to an age where they can start employing their own skills and creativity for gift giving. This fall they learned from homeschooled friends how to make an archery set out of pvc pipes, duct tape and wooden dowels.

The simple bow works so well and is so much fun to shoot that the guys made three sets as gifts this year, one for a cousin and two for the neighbor boys. Sam and Peter had a great time in the local hardware store with their list, gathering up the various supplies they needed for their project which they purchased with their own hard-earned cash. Each bow set was spray painted a different color.

Duct tape has always been lauded for its versatility but who would have thought it would make good arrow fletching? I think Dad would have been proud.

The arrow tips can be blunted with pencil erasers but of course these boys want them sharpened.




Since Sam has been attending art school he is honing another skill to use for gifts. He gave several of his works for presents, including this special request from his dog-loving little brother. I helped Sam find a photo of a painting on the internet that he used as a reference to paint this St. Bernard at class with help from his teacher.

He gave this pencil drawing of Mt. Hood to his older brother and a lovely colored pencil rendering of a rose to me.

The homemade gifts didn't end there. The boys had requested aprons on their Christmas wish list so they wouldn't have to wear mom's girly things when they are helping in the kitchen. Their big sister came through with these homemade aprons that have a more manly appeal.

Gifts that are homemade have power to bring warm thoughts and memories of the giver. With the time and effort that goes into them they are expressions of love and thoughtfulness that are satisfying to the giver as well. I'm so glad my little boys are learning these lessons.

Falalalala!

Christmas has come and gone, leaving boxes and cookies and tiny little bottles of alcohol* in its wake. I suspect that 2012 is the last year my daughter will believe in Santa, so I wanted to preserve the magic as much as possible. After we got home from church on Christmas Eve, she set out cookies and almond milk for the big guy and even opened the little fireplace doors, just to make sure Santa didn't get trapped in there or anything. Together we watched Santa's progress on the NORAD website. "He's almost in Puerto Rico," I told her. "You'd better go to bed right away!"  And so she did. Her father and I, for once, got a little quiet time together. Thank you, NORAD!

Although my daughter cannot be pried out of bed even with a crowbar on most mornings, she was up bright and early on Christmas Day. I was already awake, because the foster puppy apparently needed to get an early start on his evil-doing. He was up by 6:00 a.m. As any dog person will tell you, when a puppy wakes up and starts wandering around . . . you get up, too. You don't just let him wander around because you're "sure he'll be fine."  Nothing good can come of an unattended puppy.

We decided to gate off the living room while we opened gifts. The dogs (including the puppy) sat on the other side of the gate, looking very put out. A climbed the gate and then dove in.  Santa brought her a bean bag chair and she was thrilled. It's a fuzzy fuchsia affair with sequins on it. Santa also brought her several items from her list, including a stuffed horse, clothes, a DVD, a CD, and I can't remember what else. Her Meemaw and aunties hooked her up, too. My mom made her a beautiful robe. My middle sister got her a sleeping bag with A's name on it. My baby sister got her a shirt from Justice. Santa brought her an ugly rainbow blanket from Justice, so the kid was thrilled to get two things from that store.

I could see a definite shift in how Christmas went down this year. Now that the kid is a little older, there are slightly fewer toys. Sometimes P and I still have flashbacks to Christmas of past years, when we spent the entire day trying to liberate a Dora play set from its box. Just when you think you've just about freed the doll from the box, you find that her hair is actually stapled to the cardboard. Ai-yi-yi. Although some kids hate getting clothes for Christmas, my daughter actually had clothes on her list. I got her some red boots that I would love to wear myself and some cute outfits from Gymboree and Crazy 8. Both stores had kick-ass sales right before Christmas.

After the frenzy of unwrapping was done, we got dressed and headed to our niece and nephew's house for a potluck lunch. My family is far away but P has relatives in the area. We rotate with hosting responsibilities for Christmas Day. Next year it will be our turn. I brought along a casserole and a pastry. A was thrilled to have a chance to play with her cousins. The challenge that we always run into is that A is an only child, our nephew's daughter is an only child, and P's brother's daughter is an only child. So we had three young girls with iffy sharing skills trying to get along. It went well for a while and then eventually all three were mad at each other for various reasons. That's how we knew it was time to wrap things up and head home.

My daughter had a bunch of items on her Christmas list that included the word "maker." Slushie maker, cotton candy maker, ice cream maker, etc. I didn't fall for any of that, but our niece and nephew did. They got her a cotton candy maker. "Thaaaaaaaanks," I said when A opened the gift. I made a mental note to buy their kid a drum kit next year. So, of course, we hadn't even made it back to our house before she started asking about making cotton candy. P decided to humor her and the two of them sat down together to give it a try. He read the instructions while she impatiently waved a paper wand around, ready to catch the spun sugar as it flew out of the machine. Only . . . it didn't fly out. It turns out you can't just dump in the colored sugar. You have to sift it in slowly. P had to scoop it back out and then try again. Eventually, at long last, some wisps of cotton candy began to appear. By that time, the kid had gotten bored and went to her room to play with a new art set. So, I grabbed the paper wand and started twirling it inside the cotton candy machine.

I pulled it out and grabbed a pinch of cotton candy for tasting. "Oh, it's . . . ummmm, gritty," I said. "What flavor is it?"

"Pink."

I tried another pinch but could not place the flavor. I had no context for it, I guess. By then, the kid had re-emerged and swept more of the cotton candy onto the cone. She tried a pinch also. "Oh," she said.

We're going to try another flavor next time. We're also going to try following the directions more closely.

 

*I asked Santa not to put any chocolate in my stocking, so he tossed in a few mini bottles of booze instead. I'm either vaguely offended or secretly delighted. Or both.