We are doing great with this. Struggling to get by does kind of help though :p My oldest is getting a poncho I knit her (yarn thanks to a RAK) and the 3 figures I mentioned earlier in the thread that we bought awhile ago and put away, then my youngest is getting a new gnomie hat I knit her (yarn again thanks to a RAK) and a koala bear I am knitting her as well. That's it!
We are doing great with this. Struggling to get by does kind of help though :p My oldest is getting a poncho I knit her (yarn thanks to a RAK) and the 3 figures I mentioned earlier in the thread that we bought awhile ago and put away, then my youngest is getting a new gnomie hat I knit her (yarn again thanks to a RAK) and a koala bear I am knitting her as well. That's it!
Lack of funds and/or lack of space are highly motivating!! :)
I can make Christmas look pretty small, but a week later is birthday, then Easter, plus little things here and there throughout the year just because. I'm really happy with what I've heard from family so far! My sister got him a name-puzzle stool. And my mom was out shopping for cowboy boots today. (Boots might be the hit of Christmas this year!) Last year my brother and aunt's family both got Melissa and Doug things. The inlaws typically send books and clothes because they don't really get what I'm doing, but they've come to respect it which I really appreciate!! So it's adding up to generous but not overwhelming gifts. :) This is the third Christmas since we made the deliberate switch away from plastic, battery powered, or character things. That makes a big difference too with the relatives! They might not get it, but they realize it's a long term decision!
I think we've done pretty well and stuck with our beginning goal. I'm just posting gifts for the littles as my older two are teens.
ds2 - want - daddy-made drawbridge for his castle
need - rainbrow broom
play with - mama-made apron and chef's hat
read - Elsa Beskow book and a Tiptoes Lightly book
stocking - lyra face crayons, Ostheimer giant, watercolor pencils
ds3 - want - daddy-made jailhouse for his castle
need - rainbow broom
play with - mama-made apron and chef's hat
read - farm book and elf book
stocking - scissors, ferby neon pencils, Ostheimer little red riding hood and wolf
It makes me really, really happy to have a "simple" Christmas.
It is going pretty well here. Not perfect...but hey...I am not perfect. I have a few little wooden figures for DD for Christmas and some books. She will also be getting a handknit blanket (assuming I finish in time :))
I've asked for family to consider our request of not adding to our toys...and instead have a wishlist that includes woolies, play table and chairs, some art supplies and a few specific Christmas decorations. I am feeling rather good about it all really. Simplifying is good for the soul.
I'm doing pretty well with my little guy. He is getting a wooden truck (from us), wooden tool trolley (to hopefully reduce his desire to bang on everything in the house) (from Mimi) and a riding toy (from Santa). These are all things we didn't have from dd's toddlerhood, so, I don't feel like we are piling on in the toy department. I've asked for undershirts and socks from an aunt. My dad is giving him a bear that has the Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep prayer somewhere on it.
For dd, we're doing pretty well, too, I think: papi is making another playstand, I actually gave in to an American Girl doll from Mimi (who is also giving her a nice notebook to write down the stories they make up together - I'm secretly hoping she doesn't get much play. The most beloved baby doll in our collection, though is a Corolle doll my mom gave her for her 2nd Christmas and it's now in the crib with our son and the Waldorf doll I made for him gets zero love!) and 3 crafting/building kits; oh and a yarn basket! Basket is from Goodwill, will have 1 set of size 9 needles and a couple of small skeins of PF from a crochet gift egg kit I bought 2 years ago and never used. She's also getting 2 Egglings from Mimi. I'm hoping we will not kill these. I am supposed to be making clothes for the Waldorf doll I made for her birthday and a needle felted toadstool fairy house. I've at least started the needle felting. Advent crafting has severly slowed me down, though! On the need front, I have ordered wool slippers and Soft Star boots for her. Since it has been below 0 here with the windchill, they may make an appearance before Christmas! She'll get earmuffs from my aunt. Oh, and my dad is giving her a Pillow Pet type thing.
I have 3 DDs and we celebrate the Solstice but I am following the Want, Need, Wear, Read theme too.
7yo
Want - wooden flower press
Need - ?
Wear - shearling boots
Read LMNOP
Grandma - doll high chair & sling
4yo
want - groovy girl
need -
wear - ?
read - snowflake bentley
grandma - dolly bed & ?
6mo
amber necklace and soft baby brush from nova natural
It's good reading this thread because sometimes I wonder if I'm not giving them enough for Christmas! Any of my friends would think I was horrible and weird!
DD1 who is 3:
Waldorf doll I made
tiny baby Waldorf doll (like 3 inches high)
playmat made by me (like this http://www.etsy.com/listing/39480298/made-to-order-discovery-tote-in-the)
toothbrush!
wooden tangrams made by dh (if he finishes them!)
DD2 will be 10 months old:
Waldorf doll made by me
tiny baby Waldorf doll
shared presents:
a bunch of wool felt animals I made
floor puppets I made
tree block train made by dh
little wooden boat made by dh
I guess dd1 has lots, but I feel bad for the baby. But I have to remind myself she doesn't know or care!
Our kids are kind of getting a bunch by now, but most of it was not funded by us :)
The BIG shared gift this year, courtesy of my mother :D is the Kinderkram stable & new Ostheimer farm animals. 3 goats gruff, a set of chickens, 1 lamb, and 1 baby bear (for dd2, bears are her animal). I bought a tiny stuffed flying pig & they already have a ewe and a dog. I will leave it all unwrapped & set it up under the tree for Christmas morning.
As for the rest, also from Grammy, is an Oscar the Grouch shirt for dd1 & books for both girls. From dh and me, a wooden letter matching game & an electronic word building Fridge Phonics game for dd1 and a small wooden Noah's Ark for dd2, all purchased at the thrift store in excellent shape, woo hoo! Small plush Bert and the Count dolls and more books for dd1. In their stockings, small plush Cookie Monster, a little plastic horn she can toot, toothbrushes, and chocolates for dd1, a small Boyd's Bear & toothbrushes for dd2. We bought the Sesame Street dolls from Sesame Place this summer, I won the Boyd's bear in a raffle, & the books are rewards from an Usborne Books show I hosted back in February. All said, dh and I spent v little ourselves over the course of the year to get Christmas gifts, yay! There will also be gifts from other relatives. The ones I know are a bathtub pump toy and some more dollhouse furniture. I am planning to make the girls a set of tree blocks if we ever get our vice mounted to our workbench & I would like to make dd2 a snuggle baby doll & I have the fabric to make dd2 a baby quilt, but if I actually get to that stuff, I will consider it a bonus :)
here is what DS is getting this year:
1. home-made felt dragon, purchased at the waldorf school fundraiser;
2. whatever my aunt brings;
3. whatever my ILs are getting him.
these second two will not be at christmas. he has plenty of clothes for right now, but here is how the 4 things align:
1. something you want: he's two, what does he want? LOL but, i plan on only giving him ONE of the toy presents, likely from my aunt, and withholding the others until later in the year or just having them "show up" in his toy section when something else leaves (due to destruction).
2. something you need: new gum boots
3. something to wear: sun hat
4. something to read: my parents are sending a collection of stories for him.
also, i learned from our waldorf teacher/leader/parent coach person that he has a very sunny personality -- mostly air and fire -- and over-stimulation can be an issue. so, by keeping his toys--and in fact our whole house--minimal, we actually help him stay grounded and calm. :) this is great. :)
we did a purge of clothes, put away winter gear, and did a run to library/friend's-loaners to give back those things we've borrowed (books, movies, etc), and reorganized drawers, closet, cupboard, and shelves. i have one more closet to clean out, but otherwise, we are doing well with keeping it simple.
also, we have a friend living with us over the next two weeks, so i'm hoping that we'll get a garden in the ground before we go on vacation--perhaps on wednesday and friday we can do some work on that. :) i decided to go with things that are floral, rather than edibles/culinaries because we don't know the state of the soil. we'll do culinary ones indoors in a pot.
Our list all has to do with available sqaure feet :lol
DS has been awesome about some major toy downsizing this fall. We have gotten rid of bags of things, he was so mature about it I was really proud!
So I am making him 2 wallets (one for his foreign currency which he collects and one for his regular money he finds and earns doing jobs around the marina). I am embellishing a thrisfted sweater with a pirtate ship. I am attempting some mittens and a hat from a felted sweater (without much luck at the moment)
I got a fabulous castle from etsy (MamaKopp) that is on hinges to unfold big for play then fold back in small for putting away -- perfect for boat life! I never thought we could do any sort of castle b/c of space but this was the perfect solution and very affrordable too. And a wood car ferry boat for his toy cars also from etsy.
Then some fresh art supplies (wax, colored pencils, and hopefully I will have time to make more play dough plus some mama made blank books) and I am making him a batch of CD's with his favorite music and favorite audio stories to play in his room on the freecycled boom box he has (best freecycle ever, he gets SO much use from it!)
It seems like a lot when I write it all down :) But it's all very carefully thought out as far as needs and space and what will make him smile.
The baby gets an amber necklace and a pair or knitted (etsy) wool longies and lots of kisses.
For his very close friends we make surprise balls -- paper mache balls with shiny rocks, little felted goodies, chocolate coins, etc inside. The kids lots busting them open!
My kids are getting a lot but only a few items are from us. I'm just going to put the whole list for ll four kids, ages 6, 4, 1, 3 months since some items are for all of them or at least more than one.
Dollhouse (kinderkram), dollhouse furniture (plan toys), dollhouse dolls (evi), 11 wooden animals (ostheimer), a waldorf doll plus pj outfit (from palumba), 2 dolls (camden rose), wooden building sticks (camden rose), wooden ironing board (camden rose), fire tunnel stacker (gs&h), play clips (camden rose), metal dust pan and brush (from nova), wooden rattle (camden rose), metal tea set (from nova), metal pots set (from nova), baseball glove and ball, hammer balls (plan toys), a dozen or so books, ballet slippers, wikki sticks, children's broom (camden rose), fridge to go with play kitchen (camden rose), cash register, plan toys roller, several movies (from family members), stockmar watercolors, felted ball making kit (from nova), silk butterfly wings (sara's silks), my first Christmas ornament (hallmark), a museum membership, a scooter, a children's dictionary, and walkie talkies (real adult ones).
It's a TON of stuff and that's not including all the gifts we didn't specifically give suggestions for. Luckily we live in a big house. DH's family is very generous and gets really into Christmas. They're also, for the most part, well off and able to give lots of gifts. We've found that we have to give them ideas or we end up with stuff we don't want or the kids don't like - such as a big all plastic dora doll (real gift from a few years ago). So now we make a wish list on amazon and suggest websites that carry things the kids will like. I gave out nova natural and palumba this year. We had another call this morning for gift ideas and I suggested a kinderkram stable but who knows on that one, the person I told that to tends to ask for ideas then if she doesn't like the idea she just gets the kids whatever she was going to get anyway - like more legos (which I'm fine with be we have tons already). At least she lives in another state and always includes a receipt.
Dont feel that this is unusual. 2 years ago, DD received a 36" barbie from her uncle. Yes, it was taller than her and they could share clothes. Ridiculous!
We're not really doing toys this year. I love the idea of establishing the tradition of four main gifts (not four things, just four sets of things) so we are trying that out this year. We also do stockings, gave a gift for st. nicholas day, and doing a gift for solstice.
wooden roadway
beeswax pillar candle / blanket doll
solar powered rainbow chime maker
car battery for freecyled powerwheel
himalayan salt lamp - (solstice)
amber teething necklace - (st. nicholas, wrote story using this as inspiration, and necklace is reminder to be like the sun)
5 knitted gnome babies (getting one at a time during advent next week)
Dont feel that this is unusual. 2 years ago, DD received a 36" barbie from her uncle. Yes, it was taller than her and they could share clothes. Ridiculous!
Bachelor uncles always come up with the most interesting things, don't they?
Dont feel that this is unusual. 2 years ago, DD received a 36" barbie from her uncle. Yes, it was taller than her and they could share clothes. Ridiculous!
Bachelor uncles always come up with the most interesting things, don't they?
haha! You knew he was a bachelor! Good call!
It sounds like everyone had done so well!
Can't believe Christmas Eve is finally here and i have actually stuck to my plan to have a simple Christmas. Even went into town this morning and didn't have a last minute panic and buy anything so I am very pleased. The gifts are all wrapped up and ready to go.....
I did a blog post a couple of days ago because of this thread and I just wanted to say thank you to everyone for you support for simple/useful gift giving!
Thank you and Seasons Greetings!
xxx
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