About Home and Family

By Krisann Blair and Susie Glennan

Krisann: Growing up, my mother always made certain that I had ten gifts to
open under the tree. Some gifts were very inexpensive although she
was selective about what she gave. There is only one large gift and
next the other nine were combined in price, a few of them priceless. Having
two youngsters in recent times means you can a whole new
and updated version of something being purchased. After a number of years
of giving my kids more gifts compared to they really needed, I chose to
change the variety of gifts they received. I chose to embrace my mother’s
ten-gift rule, combining it with ideas learned from an attendee at one among
my retreats. Now at Christmas my children get gifts good
following:

Each Sunday prior to advent, both receive

A spiritual item for instance a nativity piece, devotional book, or Bible

A tree ornament

A clothing item to use to the first Sunday of advent and new pajamas

On Christmas morning, both receive

Something to read through

Something to cuddle, maybe a stuffed animal, doll, pillow, blanket, or
quilt

Something to play with your being a toy

Something to generate like crafts and arts

Something for a keepsake including jewelry, a heirloom, or collectible
item

Something hand-made, either hand-made by me or by another individual

A video, board, card, or electronic game

By utilizing the above list being a guide, my Christmas purchasing gifts one is the most
organized, i actually enjoy finding gifts for my kids
annually. The kids suggest suggestions for each category and then look
forward to discovering how creative mom is at her gift decisions. Many
with the gifts have grown items they are going to keep for many years, that i’m sure
that is a tradition they are going to take in their own families one day. So I pass
this tradition through to you with the idea that your buying presents is as
rewarding for yourself and yours because it is to me.

�2002 Krisann Blair

Susan: After i was a girl, Hanukkah meant making decorations,
lighting candles, singing prayers and opening presents. Because Concerning
kids of my own personal, I actually do exactly the same; however, with three children in the
electronic age, gifts begun to get quite costly, and so i started a brand new family
tradition.

I saw a service in the catalog with eight boxes full of goodies, one for
each night of Hanukkah. After ordering searching against each other, I ran across i
might need to acquire one for each of my three children. That could
be expensive. And the funny thing could be that the Dreidel and gelt
(chocolate money) wasn’t receive up until the fifth and seventh night.

Then I chose to generate my own personal boxes. For a couple of years
now I have used the identical boxes. The first night some dreidels and
Hanukkah gelt are shown. Other trinkets fill the opposite boxes, including
movie tickets, fun pens and pencils, jelly beans, stickers, gift cards,
hacky sack, squeeze ball, cookies, jewelry, fancy socks, crayons, and
markers. It varies based on age. The focus has returned to the
tradition as an alternative to costly gifts.