Christmas in July – Gift Giving

So… Have you started thinking about Christmas yet? Are you one of those people who starts buying gifts in January and so you’re already done? Did you take advantage of the Prime Day deals to get a jump start? I totally missed that and to be honest, I don’t really even know what it is! Sad… I know.

I’m none of these. I usually get a decent start in November and finish just days beforehand. I do try to plan my gifts. I try to have an idea of what we are going to be giving those on our list but the actual buying of gifts… well, that often happens late in the game.  I don’t know if I’m waiting for my ship to come in or a windfall or what but I usually wait. Do you?

One of my favorite Christmas memories with my little family was our homemade Christmas.  We decided that the kid’s gifts to us and each other had to be homemade and that we would make one homemade gift each to each other and the kids.  It was so much fun!

I still have those gifts.  Darling daughter painted a portrait of the two of us and framed it.

It still hangs on my wall.  She made DH and DS pillowcases.  They were really into hunting and archery at the time and so it was in a woodsy pattern.

Darling Son made DD and me each a cute wooden necklace holder that still hangs on our walls and is still in use.

He carved a nameplate for DH with a screaming eagle on it (as we were stationed at Fort Campbell at the time) and it is still displayed as well.

DH made me countdown calendar with fun photos and special days marked and other fun stuff too.  He was getting ready to deploy for 15 months and this was my calendar to countdown the days till he returned.

I made him a deployment quilt with photos of our family on it and little poems the kids wrote about him.  It’s really cute.  It still sits on our bed.

I drew and framed photos of the kids doing what they loved at that time.  DD’s was a drawing of her dancing and DS’s was of him with his bow. Those drawings sit on their bookcases.

They are precious memories for me and hopefully for the rest of the family too.  I really need to get my thoughts together for this year’s Christmas gifts.  Get some ideas and plan so that my December can be relaxed and full of fun memory making not mad rushing about buying meaningless gifts that either get regifted or put somewhere forgotten.

What do you do for Christmas gifts?  Have you started?  Do have any amazing gift ideas?  Share away!  I can use all the help I can get!