My memory is a bit fuzzy but my yearly gifts are below - forgive me if I have made a mistake.
2009 - Photo of Aunties 2010 - Spoon Rings 2011 - Glass Icicle Ornaments 2012 - Laundry Detergent 2013 - Hot Cocoa Snowman 2014 - Bean Soup Mix 2015 - Vanilla Extract 2016 - Homemade candles 2017 - Lemoncello/ mini candle/ picture of Mulgrew house 2018 - You will see soon! |
My mom comes from a family of six children, four girls and two boys, as bookends. in this photo, my mom Elaine is in the front of this picture next to Lily and Liam, Julie's children. In back are my Aunts Karen, Mary, & Milly. Then Julie, me, and Milly's daughter, Little Milly.
As you may be able to surmise, I come from a big family with many, many cousins most of which are not in this picture. This has been wonderful and has provided me with many fond memories of my childhood. When it comes to the holidays, this also has the possibility of being very expensive. The original family way of dealing with this was to give gifts to nieces and nephews until the age of 18. After the kids grew up, the sisters returned to giving gifts to each other. At one point my mom, the artist, suggested giving homemade gifts. This wasn't well received but the next year another aunt suggested it and as they say, the rest is "ourstory". My aunts were the original "Crafty Crew" and everyone was tasked in making gifts for the others. They'd meet at a restaurant and spend the evening eating, drinking (mostly Pepsi) and sharing gifts. They had such a good time and the joy of it lasted so much longer than if they had exchanged a store bought gift, from thinking about what to make, spending time crafting, getting together and laughing about them, to beginning to plan the next years gift. Being from a big family, the get-togethers are always loud and chaotic but also, always lots of fun. Being one of two children myself, this is very different to the experiences of smaller families, so naturally I needed to find a way to get into this group. My husband calls them my "sisters". Fortunately, when I asked to join they accepted me. My first gift was a photoshoot and photo of my Aunts together on the beach. although one of my aunts couldn't make it to the shoot, and she wanted me to photoshop a picture of her at age 18. haha! I did have a nice gift to give the others. I don't remember what I did for Milly that year. ever since, Home Made Christmas has become a much looked forward to family tradition. We have added a few members to our crew, as well. My cousins Julie and Lil Milly, and the love of crafting is also expressing itself in next generation, as well. This will be Lily's (age 11) third year! This year we are having our annual event at Lil Milly's new home...she has gotten into baking so I can't wait to try whatever treats she comes up with. |