I am always thinking of ways to make the holiday more meaningful, less consumer driven. I confess I have not found the perfect balance yet, but I am working on it. This website has got me thinking about it more and more. And so has this one.
One side of my family draws names and then all the rest of the money we would spend on eachother we give to those who truly need. In the past we have donated to Heifer International, Samaritan's Purse, and others.
I like that we give to organizations, but I still like to give meaningful gifts when we are gift giving. One way I feel like I can do this is to give gift that are based on shared experiences and loves. With this in mind, I gave my sister a photo session with Mayzie. I hired a friend of mine who is a photographer, Crysta, to take pictures of Aunt Brooke and Little Britches. I will choose one or two to frame up for Brooke for Christmas. My sister loves photography, loves Little Britches, and loves any special time she gets with Little Britches since my sister lives out of town. I think the photo shoot went great! I was even able to sneek in a few family pictures so I could order some for our Christmas cards. Here is just one of the pictures Crysta took.
Doesn't she do a wonderful job? I need to work out a deal with her to Little Britches' yearly pictures at her current prices because one day EVERYONE is going to discover how talented she is and I will not be able to afford her!
I plan on sewing some gifts and buying some others, but no matter the gift my goal is to keep my family and myself focused on the true meaning of this advent season. That is a tall order in our culture, but I am willing to give it a try.
I better get going. It's December already!
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