I woke up to this sign today. All throughout the house there are the signs that Christmas is almost here. Almost every room has someone in it working on a “secret” project or cutting snowflakes to decorate their rooms and Nick has taken charge of stringing the popcorn for the tree. So much to do and so much fun to do it all. We will not stress about how much there is to do, there is time. Christmas for us is all about making room in our hearts for the infant Jesus to be born and giving him the only gifts that we can. The only thing the infant needs, our love for each other. And so (yes, I know you shouldn’t start a sentence with and) I will declare this week “making merry week” and invite you to visit us whenever you can in the next couple of days as I may have more than one post per day.
Today, I am working on a project that I have tried to make a part of our Christmas for the past few years. Three years ago I went out and bought some fabric to do it and it still didn’t happen. Last year I added some fabric to that pile and nothing. This year, I decided that it was going to happen and added quite a bit of fabric selections to the pile. For about 6 years I have been trying to talk the kids into going paperless (or almost paperless) in the gift giving department. We have used fabric gift bags for birthday presents since my big kids were little but for some reason the thought of not ripping and shredding paper on Christmas morning was so sad to them. Until that is, I myself realized that those fabric gift bags would become part of our every Christmas, our heirlooms.
I told them to think forward 10, 15, 20 years and imagine looking back to see the different fabrics from each year. How special! We all agreed that this was stellar and no one was sad about it anymore, they are in fact excited about it. There are lots of kiddie fabrics (love me some Peanuts) and some vintage looking ones and some just downright Christmas-y fabrics that I am zipping up into bags of all sizes. Every year I will add a few along with a hand embroidered tag of the year they were added to our pile, sewn onto each bag. Our hope is that when our children start their very own families, they can take a few to start their own piles and remember the love that we share during Christmas.
The kids wanted me to label the fabrics I bought in 2011 and 2012 as such so I am doing tags for three years and this year being the first will have the biggest selection of fabrics. Most of the fabrics were purchased at Joanns or online and I have left the selvage edges on the ones that say where they came from because someday that too will be cherished information.
The wool yarn ties are Cascade Magnum Wool, bulky, Ecru. They remind me of the ribbons my momma would put in my hair when I was little.
I hope you are enjoying the last few days of Advent. Until we see each other again, I am off to make merry.
I remember the yarn hair ties! Oh my! Very long hair in pigtails with colored yarn. Ha! Love your fabrics – we actually have some of the same ones for our Christmas banner! Better get to finishing that today! Merry Merry!
Usually only read, but I had to comment on your wonderful bag plan! Although I do love the sound of paper being torn, I've long flinched at the waste. I may have to buy some Christmas fabric on sale and start adding some bags to the mix. What fun to hand down and try to remember who got what in the bag from year-to-year.
These are really great. I've thought of doing something like that, but haven't. The years are a nice touch.
Merry christmas.
I LOVE your bag idea! Especially the fabric with the figures that look like wooden "dolls"…I am going to try and find that here in WI. If the kids miss the "ripping", how about stuffing just a small sheet of the sparkly tissue paper at the top of the bag…that might be "lower impact", but still offer crinkly satisfaction. Thank you for reminding me to slow down, the Holy Spirit has delivered His message to me, from you. Merry Blessed Christmas to you all!
I remember the yarn hair ties! Oh my! Very long hair in pigtails with colored yarn. Ha! Love your fabrics – we actually have some of the same ones for our Christmas banner! Better get to finishing that today! Merry Merry!
Usually only read, but I had to comment on your wonderful bag plan! Although I do love the sound of paper being torn, I’ve long flinched at the waste. I may have to buy some Christmas fabric on sale and start adding some bags to the mix. What fun to hand down and try to remember who got what in the bag from year-to-year!
I've tried the fabric bag route, but I'm the one who doesn't like it as much! I sort of love how the wrapped boxes look so pretty stacked under the tree. LOL I do use some fabric, but I'm not sure I can ever turn loose of my wrapped boxes. It is a great idea though to label the years like this. That will be a neat thing to look back on over the years. Merry Christmas!
Love this!! We just use playsilks but your idea is soooo much better!! Do you happen to know the name of the angels and deer fabric? I know 2 girls that would love that!!! <3 <3
Ni, there is no name on the fabric edge? It is a vintage reprint and I found it at Joanns.