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I come from a large family. We all live close except for 1 which is our daughter but she will be here for 17 days for Christmas.
When our dad was alive, he was a true patriarch! He loved Christmas and all the stuff that goes along with it. I am one of his children, there are 4 of us and we are all married and have our own families. We all get along.
Between the 4 of us, we have 12 children from age 17 to 25. They also love Christmas.
Since my dad is gone now, my one sister always has Christmas at her house. The cousins love seeing each other because a lot of them are now in college and live away for part of the year.
I always give a gift certificate for a restaurant to each family and gift cards to all the kids - like ITunes or the movies or Starbucks - I mix them up and everyone gets something different ($10-$20 range).
Anyway, I want to continue in my dad's tradition of making each Christmas special and memorable so I'm looking for ideas. One of my sisters is having a hard time this year and maybe some suggestions would help. I told her to just give everyone some of her homebaked cookies but I know she's looking for something else. Any ideas?
For example, the year after my dad died, I gave every family a paperweight from Duke - they were tearing up the gym floor and that was our family name so it was quite sentimental.
What about taking some old family photographs and making a calendar for everyone? Each month could highlight a photo that reminded your sister or the family of that month. For instance, fishing in June or sledding in January...
What about starting a family scrapbook or journal? It wouldn't have to be all decked-out and fancy... it could just even be a simple notebook... but give it to the oldest person in the family with instructions. They could have it for one year... and write in it, put pictures or momento's in it, etc... then next Christmas they would give it to the next oldest person. Every year at Christmastime it would be passed around. Or you could start several of these and have several going at one time. Perhaps do one for sisters, one for brothers... something like that. At every Christmas it could become a tradition to read through the journals and share them.
Anyway, I want to continue in my dad's tradition of making each Christmas special and memorable so I'm looking for ideas. One of my sisters is having a hard time this year and maybe some suggestions would help. I told her to just give everyone some of her homebaked cookies but I know she's looking for something else. Any ideas?
A favorite OLDER photo of the family & put it in a frame.
As for your sister, the cookies are a great idea. There are many free & easy way to package them with just items from one's home. Lots of ideas on the web. It's one of the things I am doing this year. Some seasonal ideas: candy cane sugar cookies (so easy & fun to make); shortbread cookies (use a holiday shaped cookie cutter to shape) dipped in semisweet chocolate (again, easy); scones. If you have any tea or coffee drinkers in your family, nothing beats homemade scones with a cup of coffee or tea on CMas morning!
Another idea I just saw the other day was a family cookbook. You can get this printed & bonded for a very reasonable price or even print & bond yourself.
What about taking some old family photographs and making a calendar for everyone? Each month could highlight a photo that reminded your sister or the family of that month. For instance, fishing in June or sledding in January...
What a great idea! Wow, I love it.
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Great Idea!
