No Angst Gift-Giving by Brenda Nixon

Searching for just the right gift? Does someone on your list seem to have everything already? Haven't a clue what to give? Then try a gift certificate! Almost every store, business, or trade offers holiday gift cards.

One Christmas we gave each of my daughters a gift certificate to a Christian bookstore. Another year, when my daughter was into crochet we gave her a certificate to a sewing store. My husband is happy to select his "man gift" when given a certificate to a hardware store, Low'es or Home Depot. Starbucks cards are welcomed anytime.

No need to get in a tizzy about what to give . . . just grab a gift certificate next time you're at the store.

Of course, a long-lasting, unique and welcomed gift - under $20 - is a signed copy of A Scrapbook of Christmas Firsts. *wink* You can go to any of our websites and order your an autographed copy.


Brenda Nixon, www.BrendaNixon.com
Co-author, A Scrapbook of Christmas Firsts

The Best Christmas Open House

This week each of us co-authors on A Scrapbook of Christmas Firsts (available at bookstores & online) are to post a brief blog about party ideas and themes.

I love Christmas parties, open houses, drop-ins, you name it! Especially in the small town where I live, it's a rare treat to dress up and be festive.

One of my girlfriends always throws the best Christmas Open House. Why? Because she begins with a personal touch by delivering her creative handmade invitation door-to-door. One Christmas her invite was a ribbon-tied scroll with the opening words, "Hear Ye, Hear Ye."

Each Christmas her home is filled with oodles of food in fancy dishes - creative presentation - and a wide circle of friends. I always meet somebody new because she has such an inclusive guest list.

Finally, she prepares a small commemorative token to gift her guests. She places her gifts in a basket by the door. I particularly remember the basket of silver glass ornaments with the date artistically etched in gold and a red ribbon looped through the top hook so it could hang it on our tree. Her takeaway treat is not only a generous gesture but a marvelous way to remember her family year to year. I can't wait to see what she comes up with this year.

How do you throw the best bash? Leave your comment here to share with the world.

Brenda Nixon, http://www.brendanixon.com/
Co-Author, A Scrapbook of Christmas Firsts

Make Now--Give Later

Apples are in this time of year. It's time to plan ahead for Christmas. If you are like me, you never have enough of those little gifts to give to people like Sunday school teachers, the postman, the hairdresser, etc. I don't know too many people who don't like apple butter and with a little dressing-up on the jar, it becomes a wonderful Christmas gift. Here's how to make a big batch:

3 quarts sweet cider
8 lbs apples washed, cored, and quartered (sweet-tart apples work best) 2 1/2 cups brown sugar

2 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 tsp. allspice

1/2 tsp. ground cloves

Place all into a roasting pan and set the oven for 325°. Let bake uncovered until apples cook and mixture thickens. Stir occasionally to break up apples and get proper consistency. About 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 hours later, carefully ladle the hot mixture into clean sterile canning jars. Be sure to wipe any apple off of the rim of the jar. Close with hot sterilized lids and rings. Turn jars upside down. Lids will seal as contents cool. (You know they are sealed when you can press the top of the lid and there's no give.)

Jar lids may be decorated with fabric and/or ribbons. I like to cut swatches of thin Christmas fabric that I buy on sale after Christmas or find on the remnant table. I carefully unscrew the metal ring on the jar and place the fabric over the metal lid. Then screw the jar ring back down. You can tie a piece of thin satin ribbon or curling ribbon around the lid and add a small ornament or cut a design from an old Christmas card and punch a hole through it to make a little gift card to tie on.

What do you like with apple butter? Muffins? Toast? Biscuits?

Gifting Hope at Christmastime by Trish Berg

I was so excited to see this topic come up on our Christmas blog. Thanks, Cathy, for the idea.

I think Christmas is the perfect time to share the hope that is all around us. The hope that comes from God. The hope found only in the manger, in the baby that was born to give us eternal life.

But how do you wrap that hope up in a gift?

My first thought was the wonderful gift my mother-in-law bought for us the year we had a miscarriage. I actually share this story in A Scrapbook of Christmas Firsts. It was our first Christmas after the miscarriage, and the pain still felt very raw.

One of the most painful things I found was that losing a baby to miscarriage wasn't a real pain, accepted in the real world. There is no funeral for your baby. No one says goodbye to the baby. The baby is there...and then the baby is gone.

The sun comes up...and the sun goes down...and you are expected to get up and live your life as if nothing happened.

That was difficult to do when I felt like life had been ripped out from inside me.

But I kept a lot of that pain hidden inside. I still do. People don't like you to dwell on pain, so we all tend to stuff it inside and hide it.

But that Christmas, Mike's mom gave us a beautiful ornament of an angel baby to hang on our tree to remind us of our precious baby that is in Heaven.

We hang that ornament every year, and every year we remember our baby. Yes, it makes me sad, a little. But it also makes me hopeful.

Why hope? Well, because I know where my baby is. My baby is in Heaven, safe and sound. And I know that someday, I will get to hold my baby again.

So, I guess I believe you can share that kind of hope by giving a beautiful ornament to remember someone you lost, or to share that hope with someone you know who lost someone.

Maybe a friend lost a father, or a grandfather. Maybe a neighbor lost a spouse. Maybe a friend had a miscarriage.

Pain is pain, and we all need to remember the pain and the person, and this is a wonderful way to do that.

Hope. It sometimes feels far away, like a wind on a mountain you have never felt blow, and yet you feel like you can almost catch that wind in your hands and hold onto it.

That's the hope of Christmas. The hope of Jesus. The hope you can share with someone you love this Christmas.

The more I think about our precious angel ornament, as beautiful as she is, it truly is not the gift that makes the giving so special. It's not in the gift that we see the hope.

It's in th egiver.

My mother-in-law thought about our baby, and reminded us of God's eternal love. That is the true gift of hope.

Trish Berg
www.TrishBerg.com

A Remembrance for the Christmas Tree

Our theme this week has been about giving a gift to a close friend. Can in-laws qualify as friends? In my case, it will be necessary. You see, one of my best friends happens to be my sister-in-law, Polly. She is married to my husband's identical twin. (And yes, we have lots of stories about that.) The four of us often travel together. One year we traveled for eighteen days through Europe in an Audi.

Polly's birthday is in early November and each year when we've traveled somewhere together, I try to purchase a Christmas ornament for her as a gift. Her tree is filling up with miniature cruise ships, Hawaiian flowered Santas, Tahitian sea shells, penguins (we braved Antarctica together), little European mementos, etc. Each one is a reminder of the wonderful time we spent together and the unusually strong bond of friendship and love two in-laws can share.

Do you have any special mementos that adorn your tree each year?

How To Wrap a Pie Crust?

THIS WEEK, THE WORD QUILTERS WILL SHARE ABOUT GIFTS GIVEN TO BEST FRIENDS.

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Friends are the best! What do you gift your best friend during the holidays?

In elementary school, I had four or five girlfriends, and we still stay in touch. I even had a “slumber party” at my house about 10 years ago. But distance has kept us from having further constant friendship.

After I married, I met a new best girlfriend. Her name is Doris. I can’t say enough good things about her. She knows my weird habits and still loves me. I can confide in her and my words will stay put, they don’t put on travelin’ shoes. She looks out for me, especially lately because she knows that I’m helping to care for four aging parents, my husband’s and mine. She guards my schedule and time. When our friends are planning a wedding shower or baby shower and my name comes up as a hostess, she’ll steer the planning committee to other women. Bless her. Double bless her.

That’s one thing that stands out in my memory of our over-30-year-friendship. We know each other’s schedules and know how to step in and help.

So, thinking about Christmas and gifts for her, the one that stands out in her mind and that she mentions when the subject comes up is the December that I made homemade pie crusts for her. At that time, she was making 400 round trip miles to help care for her in-laws. Her mother was still alive and also needed visits and care. At least all my older generations are nearby.

That holiday season, I could have bought her another cookbook or a jewelry trinket, but I knew she needed help more than anything else. Her family, like most others, enjoys homemade pies, caramel, cherry, pumpkin and more. Early in December, I bought six or so large aluminum pie pans and whipped up my best pie dough recipe, rolled them out, placed dough into the pans, and fluted the edges. I froze them unwrapped for a few hours, and then I wrapped them in plastic wrap and aluminum foil. No bows. No frills. No fancy.

A few days later, I phoned and told Doris I was bringing her an early Christmas present. To this day, she says it was the best ever.

Point the gift of labor at a friend’s need, and you’ll come up with a winner-gift.

What meaningful holiday gift have you given to a friend?