Where we are

This year we are facing Christmas with a very, very, tight budget.  With seven children ages 15- 2yrs. the money spent on Christmas can add up quick.  It has been particularly hard this year when I have occasionally watched TV.  Holy cow!!!  The advertisements are so relentless.  They are pushing so hard to get you to buy 'stuff' that, I am really ok with not having any money to spend on gifts for the kids. 

I sat down my older crew the other day and asked them what they wanted. The all had a few little things- a lego set for ds11, a new ipod case for dd13, a pocket knife for ds15.  Other than those things, they really just want to do things.  They want to go to 5 Guys with dad, go ice skating, walk downtown and see the lights, have a party!  These are great, inexpensive ideas that they will enjoy and really remember.

All that said, I will pull a few homemade gifts out of my tush.  For my older dc I am making them reading pillows for their beds, like this tutorial:
http://www.polkadotchair.com/2012/09/on-the-go-reading-pillow-tutorial.html/
They, of course, get a book in the pocket.

My little girls want aprons, and I have a pattern for that.

For my 2yr old dd I am knitting a bunny & a dress for it:
http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/easter-dress-for-genevie


I'm knitting a hat for oldest ds
http://www.yarnharlot.ca/blog/archives/2010/01/19/lornes_hat.html

So that leaves the little guy ds5.  Guys his age are easy, I'll figure something out.

Then there are the stockings.  Socks, underwear, toothbrushes (awful, right?).  Then we will add homebaked goodies- cookies, chocolate covered pretzels, nuts, and whatever else I can come up with. 

There is one other idea I am toying with-  waiting to do bought gifts until Epiphany.  It offsets our cost and we can really "keep Christmas".  In our country, we celebrate Christmas beginning December 1st.  It has become this mad rush to buy, party, and treat ourselves, before we even get to the Holy Day. So much so, that by the time we get to Christmas, we are exhausted and want to chuck the tree the next day. Before Christmas, is the beautiful season of Advent.  It is a time to Wait, and to Prepare.  If we feast before we get to Christmas it will be devoid of the pleasure of a feast, we will be left hollow and discontented.  When we fail to wait and prepare for our Honored Guest, we miss the point of Christmas. 

Advent, up until the recent centuries, was a time of fasting and penance, similar to Lent.  It was a liturgical season punctuated with wonderful feast days that could be joyfully celebrated, and then you would dip back into a more austere existence. We are cultivating more of that spirit this year. We are eating simply- cooking from scratch, fasting from tv, decluttering and deep cleaning; all to make way for the newborn Babe, which will be laid in the manger for us.