Gifts from the Heart

Are you someone who likes to give a little something to everyone. Maybe just a loaf of homemade bread or a jar of jelly? Well make sure you have enough for everyone. In your notebook make a page for homemade gifts, whether it is a plate of cookies, homemade cinnamon ornament, a craft you make, a homemade Christmas card or other small gifts. Under each gift write the names from your gift list that you want to give it to. By doing this you might actually give something to everyone but you will also be organized when it comes time to make them. If you know you want to give 20 people homemade jelly but only have 10 jelly jars you can put the word out to friends that you need 10 jars or be on the watch for them at yard sales. (P.S. this year lots of people on my list are getting jam and I am making it as each fruit comes in season this summer so by the end of the summer that part of my gift list is finished plus I have one of each kind to enter into the county fair! Jelly is really easy and fun to make.) Below you will find some ideas for some gifts.

Give a Memory for a Gift!

Ask people on your gift list about the things they remember from past Christmas? which meant a lot to them. Then try to give them their memory. Do they always remember there being oranges and nuts? Put them together a gift basket of oranges and nuts. Or maybe it was a special cookie. Or maybe like me they always remember my mother getting a live wreath for the front door but I cannot bring myself to spend the money on one at Christmas now. What a wonderful gift to show up with at a friends house with a small live wreath that will bring back memories for them. Giving a memory will probably mean more to someone than a store bought gift and show you really thought about them. Do not forget your notebook when asking about their memories.

Home-Made Mixes

There are some wonderful books out there with recipes for homemade dry mixes for everything from bean soups to bread mixes to hot chocolate. These can be made up at one time and then put into the freezer a month or two ahead of time. You can put these into fabric gift bags (see link on Favorite Sites page) or pretty cellophane bags. You can also do layered cookie mixes in jars. Homemade mixes are always a hit with everyone.

Give of Yourself this Christmas

Do you have someone on your list who could use a night of baby sitting, a ride to the grocery store, snow shoveled or other gifts of time? Many people today would love to have something like this. I have done a bread of the month gift before it the recipient loved it. Even offering to do a college students laundry one weekend would please that hard to buy for young person. And the best thing of all it is free or costs very little.