I felt like I’d been hit by a tidal wave.
I could barely process all of the wisdom.
My eyes bounced to and fro like a racket ball from side-to-side up and down and back again.
I’m pretty sure I became short of breath.
Organization to inspiration.
Creativity to productivity.
Anything a woman could ever hope for, dream of, bake, DIY and take all in one spot.
Pinterest.
It’s been a little over three years since I first visited the land of such goodness, but as I am prone to do, I tried too much too soon. I barely knew how to pin much less create a board, so I grabbed a notebook and began creating a to-do. In the blink of an eye, I had a to-do list Wonder Woman and the whole fleet of Avengers couldn’t accomplish. So I broke up with Pinterest lest I die.
On my way out I filed a few things in my “I really want to remember that file” and because Christmas is only 38 days away (nobody panic) I’m sharing 3 easy-peasy-no-stress-no-lie gift ideas.
Baked Goods
Quality time is the best time. My mom, two sisters and our passel of children, have an annual bake night. Baking is nothing new. People love food anytime time of the year, but they L-O-V-E food during the holiday season. What is it about chocolate covered pretzels gifted in a Christmas tin? It’s like our taste buds only love them if Christmas music is playing in the background.
For bake night, each of us is responsible for a recipe and the ingredients for our favorite holiday treats. We mix, stir, bake, sing, and laugh as we spread the accomplished goodness on the table for sampling. The kids choose a Christmas tin purchased during after Christmas sales last year, fill it to the brim with a variety of salty and sweet, and lastly tag it for those we love. Everyone leaves with several tins and gifts marked off the list. #winwin
Photo Books
Are photo albums still available at Target? Bless him. My younger son will likely need therapy as he discovers there is only a handful of printed or framed photos of him compared to the countless albums of our first-born. Of course, I blame social media. The convenience of snapping, tagging and sharing is so much more time efficient than snapping, uploading, downloading and developing. But still. There is something about holding a photo album. So for the love of photos I make photo books. There are a whole plethora of online places to create photo books. I love Shutterfly because it’s easy and they have great seasonal coupons.
I upload periodically throughout the year, so it’s not overwhelming. I choose a photo book theme fitting to each family. Place the pictures in the easy-peasy to arrange templates and WAH-LAH!
If you love photos in books, give the gift of photo books. Your people will love you
Saving the best for last…
Kid-Crafted Note Cards
Dear moms of little who love to draw you pictures, this gift idea, is for you. As a former First Grade school teacher, I had 9865786128973456 handcrafted pictures from your babies before I had my children. I did my very best to display such preciousness on the walls, windows, doors, my desk, resorting even to hanging handwritten notes and pictures of your families and dinosaurs from the ceiling. Good times. And then I had my children. So now I have 98356028937465 more pictures to display. There simply isn’t enough space. But because I love pictures from my kids and handwritten notes this gift idea is the best of both worlds.
Last year I chose 10 of my favorite pictures from each of my boys. Some of the pictures had vibrant color; some were painted, some drawn with markers, one or two in pen or pencil. I took them to our local print shop. They scanned the hand drawn pictures, sized them and printed them on the front side of a folded notecard making the most adorable stationary ever!! One-of-a-kind gifts for those you love!
Have a marvelous day,
P.S. Let’s help keep each other in check this year. Instead of letting your gift list or Christmas season run you decide NOW to take it slow, and give yourself permission to say no. This season is about our Savior.
