“Simple Christmas” Series: Giving Gifts

The Christmas season is full of possibilities and ripe with opportunities for the homemaker as we balance time, money, creativity and good sense, rejecting the consumer-driven frenzy but still enjoying the simplicity of giving and sharing with those we love as we remember the greatest Gift.

Welcome to the first post in the 3-part series, Simple Christmas. (The other two will include Recipes and Christmas Decor.)

Most of us are aware of the over-commercialism of Christmas. The few stories I heard about Black Friday were sickening…almost makes me ashamed to be an American. Some have lain aside the tradition of gift-giving altogether for different reasons;  others are swept by the current and join the rat race, spending money they don’t have, and leaving little room for any celebration of Christ.

Is there a balance? Can we enjoy giving gifts to each other in moderation, practicing resourcefulness and creativity without the anxiety that comes with the consumer frenzy?

I love homemade gifts for this reason. And one of the many blessings of the Internet is the massive collection of gift ideas, made easy even for the less-than-crafty. I love giving a gift I have put my time, thoughts and/or hands into, with the hopes that the recipient will be blessed by it. We must rethink why we give gifts and let that be our starting place.

The most brilliant website to recently come available is Pinterest. If you are familiar with it, you love it as much as I do. If not, you will Here are a few gift ideas I have found on Pinterest that I plan to try this Christmas (Pinterest includes the original links):

Photo on wood

Photo Tiles

Homemade Cocoa Mix

Pillow case bed

Right after one of our hardest Christmases, I compiled an ebook with pictures and tutorials of all our homemade gifts for that year. Easy Homemade Gifts is still available and customers have told me how thankful they were for the great, easy gift ideas! (That was one of my most fun Christmases as I really had put myself into those gifts.)

There are so many more I’d love to share, but perhaps this will get you thinking about some gift goodies you could try!

And don’t forget the gift wrapping, one of the most important parts of making a gift special. This is an easy place to be creative and save money too. Consider wrapping a gift in fabric, or using fabric scraps as ribbon or cut into shapes, to adorn your package. I love wrapping in brown paper and then decorating with stamps, gems from nature, twine, raffia, or letting the kids draw on it. Maps, newspaper, wallpaper…there are lots of fun ideas!

Another great thought about giving gifts is to simply give gifts that enrich the life of the recipient. My friend, Kathy @ Teaching Good Things, has a passion for producing tools that teach practical skills, certainly a gift that needs to be passed on. She has several homemaking DVDs that are thorough and easy to follow, even for the beginner. If you want to give that kind of gift, you should buy it now, while she is running her biggest sale of the year (as in, 40% off, free shipping and free gift wrapping!).

Homeschooling: Teaching English Simply

(Updated and revised)

“Do not underestimate the importance of all the conversations (slow and clear conversations) that a mother has throughout the day with her child.  If Mother speaks clearly and decisively, she is giving the child valuable language lessons.  All the reading aloud she enjoys doing every day–as her children listen attentively–is doing verbal wonders, naturally, to teach English.  I trusted Charlotte and did not teach grammar directly until each young student reached the age of ten.  Each always did well on the language section of the year-end test…most children just need practice in hearing and speaking the English language (not television language) to get accustomed to the basic “right and wrong” of grammar.”

From Charlotte Mason Companion

I can testify to this truth as a former high school English teacher.  When children have a good grasp of the way language “sounds”, simply from partaking in good, consistent conversation, the nuts and bolts of grammar come more easily and can be postponed until children have a better understanding of abstract concepts.

By the way, when I entered my first year teaching high school students, I was prepared to only review grammar and focus on literature.  To my surprise, most of the class–about 85%, didn’t even have a basic grasp of grammatical structure and could not pick out the basic parts of speech.  Which may have been OK if they could construct a good sentence, but alas, they could not.  So don’t worry so much about “being behind the average school child”

Giving attention to our conversations lets us find ways to introduce new words and ideas in a very natural, but “sticky” way (meaning, it is more likely “to stick”). Look for conversation starters. Often, it comes from a child’s question, usually in abundance throughout the day.

A book can easily spark further conversation and I especially encourage you to ask a child to “narrate”, as Charlotte Mason called it, or “tell back”, in their own words, what they remember from the story.

(Don’t forget to utilize your time in the car or waiting for an appointment for rich conversation.)

In our increasingly electronic age where people spend less and less time interacting face to face, let us not neglect this very basic and needful exercise in teaching our children to be effective communicators!

“Too often home educators try to set up a government school at home. How foolish I was with all my records, charts, tests, and clip boards at the start! Students should read well, write well, be numerate, and cultured.”

John Mark Reynolds

What We Teach Our Children (or not) Through Family Economy

Face it: we live in a society where an “entitlement mentality” is growing all the time. More and more, money seems to be falling from the sky to a generation who really doesn’t know there is no such thing as “free”. Someone I know recently made this comment: “I love free insurance…no medical bills, yay!”. She really does think it’s free. Obama’s health plan feeds the notion that “we all deserve health care”. It would be nice, certainly. But it’s not an inalienable right.

I’ll never forget hearing one of the young men (single, strong, able, employed) who once lived with my parents in an assisted living-type ministry upon a return visit: “Man, Obama has to do something…I’ve got bills to pay.” Yes, this is the generation we have raised.

And a recent proposal by the President will work wonders to further state-dependency rates: it mandates that in a school where 40% or more of the students qualify for free breakfasts and lunches, every student will be given free breakfasts and lunches. Why? To eliminate the stigma. Like manna from heaven…free for all. Don’t get me started on “eliminating stigmas”.

“We desperately need to teach our children, by real life experiences, the basic connections between earning and spending money, and trading effort for income or benefits.”

We are witnessing a generation who has essentially transferred what they were taught in their childhood to their adulthood expectations. If I spend my childhood being given everything I want, all my favorite clothes, movies, electronic devices and sports equipment, (because everyone else does and I may be stigmatized if I don’t), if I get a new car when I turn sixteen, insurance paid, and gas money to putter around, if my mother does all the housework and cooks all the meals and my father makes all the money to pay all the bills while I spend most of my time having fun and receiving all that I want with little exchange of effort, I will likely grow up with an entitlement mentality.

Family economy is so misunderstood and underrated in the typical American home. Because we love our children, it *feels* like giving them everything they want is a good thing. And while I love to give my children gifts as much as the next parent, we need to distinguish between gift-giving and a daily practice of proper economy.

We desperately need to teach our children, by real life experiences, the basic connections between earning and spending money, and trading effort for income or benefits. The value of work can only be felt by the opportunity to spend or save its pay. The value of things can only be appreciated if there is some investment made. Likewise, the motivation to work can only be felt by a lack of the desired thing.

Obviously, there is balance in teaching this to children. But here our some ideas we hold about family economy:

• EVERYONE is an important part of the family and that belief needs to play out tangibly. ”Teamwork” is verbalized; each member knows his presence is treasured and needed.

• Little ones learn to help with basic chores; older ones grow into age-appropriate responsibilities (looking different in every home). We need to be deliberate in affirming this idea.

• Think in terms of “multiple-income family”. This is something I’ve been mulling over. When we marry, we are one, and therefore our income is one. We have one account and all expenses/needs/wants are paid out of it with no distinction about who made what. What about our children? Should money they make go into this “family pool”? And if so, how do we teach them the distinctions between a socialist attitude (where money is forcibly taken from one and given to another) and a “family-is-one” economy? Just thinking out loud on this one. Would love your thoughts. I love what Kevin Swanson says: “We’re a seven-income family”. Bottom line is, we all work and we all reap the rewards.

• We all participate in making/saving money or exchanging work for food and shelter. Not to be overly simplistic, but a child needs to understand that while Dad may earn the money to buy food and Mom may cook it, he contributes in some way to the process (taking care of his chore so Dad doesn’t have to). Or though Dad pays the power bill, we are all responsible to use energy wisely. If a child disregards his job of conserving, charging a fee or requiring extra chores can help him see the importance; to learn that “nothing is free”.

• A word about “housework”: I have seen so many families instill awful habits in their children by treating Mom like a maid. My job is to manage my home. That includes work but doesn’t exclude other members from sharing that work. It’s an enterprise. We all work, we all eat, we all glean the benefits from the joint effort of family. We all have clean clothes because we all play a part in the laundry. We enjoy a clean home because we all do our part to keep it that way. Mind you, this requires constant reminding and training, but the outcome is worth it.

• Encouraging productivity…going through our years of being laden with debt and scraping to make ends meet (and many months the ends did NOT meet), was an invaluable time of learning. We were forced into a new level of creativity and my children learned more than ever the value of saving a dollar. Now they all seem to share a love of making gifts, making and selling crafts and pursing business opportunities. From the pencil-sketched portrait business my son keeps busy at to my 9-year-old upcycling enthusiast, they all know that each gift they make and the money they earn builds our family economy and they delight to know that God can use their talents in a variety of ways.

Reading over this post seems a bit like I’m stating the obvious. It seems only natural that parents understand the importance of helping their children make these vital life connections. But I’m afraid our super-busy lives and hyper-stimulated minds often just forget these basic concepts that once ran naturally through the course of life. Let’s allow God’s truth and common sense to guide our parenting instead of the pressure of popular opinion.

On Building a House and Scrap Wood

Things are coming along nicely with our house! (If you’re new, read about our storm.) Through God’s providence, my husband has been working for my Dad in construction for the last 4 years or so. So this project–his first house–has been challenging, but not too much for him to do. It has been a wonderful learning experience. My oldest son has been able to join him most days and all he is learning is invaluable as well. Another blessing from the storm!

We’ve come this far mostly by the generosity and pure love of volunteers helping Aaron. We are so grateful! Our goal is to celebrate Christmas in our new home. It will likely be a race with time, but we’re going for it! My husband is tired, battling pneumonia but a real trooper. He’s like Superman crossed with the Energizer Bunny and I think he is so awesome!

I asked him to bring home some scrap wood and a few of us are working on some home decor projects. It satisfies my creative urge and my passion for upcycled decor at the same time. AND…I am toying around with a pickled-pine look to do in our bedroom. We have an abundance of trees to mill since nearly every last tree in the whole place was blown down. I think it’s kind of cool to be able to use the trees both for the cost-efficiency and the sentimental value.

I glued together some rough-cut 2 x 4′s.

To get the pickled look, I painted with glaze (you could also use watered-down paint). It’s hard to see the actual color in this picture but I used a light teal/blue shade. I was thrilled to discover that this exact look is what I was trying to achieve for my bedroom walls. When dried, I sanded around the edges and corners for a distressed look.

Then I revealed that my son, indeed, got all of my artistic ability.  I’m probably going to rub a light coat of stain over this to distress it a bit more.

Alexa’s turned out MUCH better. I’m thinking of making her an offer for it She painted her boards with watered-down acrylic paint and used stencils.

Thank you for your continued prayers as we walk in faith and trust Him for all our needs. He is more than sufficient.

Sandpaper/Crayon Easy Craft for Kids

Sandpaper/Crayon Art

Always looking for creative craft ideas, this one was a hit with my children. It was easy enough for my nine-year-old to orchestrate (with a little oversight while ironing) and all the kids got to participate.

Here’s how we did it:

1. Buy sandpaper (medium grain is what we used) and cut it into pieces for each child to draw himself (or other picture) with crayons (better quality crayons work best).
2. Place the drawing face-down on fabric (bag, apron, t-shirt, etc.) and iron to transfer crayon drawing.
3. If you use words, remember to write them backwards.

Note: Some of the words didn’t transfer well so we just drew directly onto the bag.

That’s it!

Helping Your Family Through Financial Hardship

NOTICE: Time has changed. I mistakenly listed the time for Morning Motivation at 8 am, but the correct time is 10 am. Sorry!

One of the many ways a wife can help her husband or be a burden to him is the way she handles the family finances.  I consider it a privilege and a challenging task to make the most of my husband’s income and it is my constant prayer that “the heart of my husband safely trusts me” in this area.

From spending to saving or even earning extra income, there are so many ways we can benefit our family’s economy!

Since my husband and I married 13 years ago, we have weathered some serious financial storms. About five years ago, through a series of several events, we accrued over $38,000 in credit card debt, besides the mortgage to the mobile home we bought when we married!

A LOT has transpired through that, and when I say, “God used it for our good”, I’m not just being trite…we are a different family because of it.

It was right about that time when the Lord had spoken to us about receiving our children AND about my coming home from work as a school teacher. Boy did our decisions fly in the face of human wisdom!!! And yet, we heard Him clearly keep saying, “Trust Me”.

My husband has worked tremendously hard and we have worked equally hard to stretch the money he makes.  I’m thrilled to report that about three weeks ago, we finished paying off the last of our credit cards and are now debt free!

And though we still pray for our daily bread, we no longer endure the burden of enslavement to debt.

Tomorrow (Tuesday), at 10 a.m. CST, I’ll be sharing LIVE at Morning Motivations, a few things we learned during all those years as well as a few practical money-saving ideas and tricks we implemented (and still do!) I hope you’ll join me for a brief, candid discussion about how we can better help our families in this area!