Merry Christmas?

I know, I’m a few weeks late.  I had good intentions of sharing our Christmas this year. We had decided before November that we were going to do another 100% handmade and refurbished Christmas. I thought it would be fun to get photos and videos of everyone at some stages of their projects. Sadly that did not happen. So all I have to offer are the finished products.

We did this year’s homemade Christmas for several reasons but one primarily because when we had done our last one,  Zeb was only 3 and too young to appreciate the fullness of its meaning. Simmie wasn’t even born yet so it would be a completely new experience for him.

Of course we have done homemade gifts since that long ago Christmas but not a 100% one so we thought this would be exciting for both. Zeb of course, focused on his favorite phrase; “a back then…” you can fill in the blank with whatever fits at the moment. A back then book, a back then toy, a back then dinner, a back then school, this happened to be “a back then Christmas.”

We spent the better part of November planning on what would be made and for who. The adults whispering with each other about whether this would be better for Zeb or would this be better? “Do you think Simmie will like this?” “If I make this you can make that and it will work great together?” or “Since you are making that I don’t think I will make that.”

Ron and I worked on projects together for both the little ones. We made a Castle and Knight play set for Zeb, who is just crazy about knights! And we made a woodland animal play set for Simmie who loves all things small.

During the day Ron cut the figures out of 1 x from patterns that we had.  We went to our local WM and bought paints to transform the blank white pine pieces into something reasonably close to looking like our desired characters.

Ron cut and sanded and I spent the evenings painting after the boys went to bed. As I have said before, I’m not a sewer; well I’m not a painter either. I don’t suppose my painting of these figures will win any ribbons at the elementary art fair BUT it was fun and it had been too long since we had done something like that and the kids loved them.

I also decided to put my nonexistent sewing talent to work as well and make a sock animal for each of the children.  I’ve never been a big fan of the sock monkey, he just looks kind of creepy if you ask me but if you can get beyond him, there are SO MANY cute animals made from socks. Simmie is my stuffy kid and never without one so I knew he would love it no matter what it was. I’m sharing this story because God is so amazing how he works, he is always tickling the heart! Little things or little moments that he gives us as a way to make us happy.  

I had seen the cutest little elephants made from socks so decided that was what I was going to make Simmie. This decision did not happen until December. I had questioned the choice of an elephant as that was not anything Simmie ever asked for but it really appealed to me. I’m not even sure other then learning about them that he ever talked about elephants.  However as soon as this decision was made within a day Simmie walked up to me out of the clear blue asking if he could have a stuffed elephant for Christmas. I was aghast, shocked and pleased all at the same time. I wondered “was it possible he heard me telling his Daddy?”, no we were far too secretive for that but certainly more than mere coincidence was happening.

Zeb is a beautiful, bright, loving and sensitive child. But I certainly wasn’t going to tell him what I was making for his little brother because Zebulun, God love him, can’t keep a secret to save his life. It’s not that he purposely spills the beans, it is just he gets so excited about something he forgets and it rolls off his lips without him thinking. Or he will decided to talk about it in a whispered tone but not take into account the person the secret was for was standing right there.

NOPE, I was not telling him. This made it harder because Simmie didn’t ask me once, he asked daily about an elephant and Zebulun was always nearby to hear his brothers plea. “No I said, I’m not even sure they make them anymore” not adding I hadn’t looked for one. Hoping this statement would close the conversations he says, “Could you ask if they would make one for me?” “Who” I said, and without skipping a beat he  says, “The factory”. Your 5 years old kid, I thought, you shouldn’t be able to draw the dots together so easily!

Seriously without exaggeration, he all of a sudden was crazy for an elephant! It had become his one plight in life to get one. Packages would arrive from the mail and with each one he would get all gitty and say “MAYBE THAT’S MY ELEPHANT!”. Honestly it became horrible because with each build up we would have to crush him know that no, we did not order an elephant, no we don’t think they make them any longer and no, the factory will not make just one elephant!

My kids don’t ask for a lot, not because they don’t have wants but because we try to teach contentment and focus on a couple times a year to fill their hearts desires. Christmas and birthday’s are those big days. Though I knew he was going to be getting what he wanted, an elephant, I worried about would he be disappointed with it? It wasn’t a fluffy grey elephant, it was a sock elephant and I had picked zany socks no less to make it and I don’t know how to sew and I didn’t know how it was going to turn out and oh my, maybe we should just order him one and make that the exception to the homemade/repurposed Christmas! The pressure was on!

But we had made a commitment and Zeb was all about the homemade Christmas and I didn’t want to add confusion to him. So I was continuing on with the stripped, blue, orange and grey elephant I had started, come what may!

Enter Zeb: Zebulun, as a stated previously, is a very thoughtful, feeling young man. Not too much gets by him for being 8. He worries about others and their needs and wants. Remember, Zeb didn’t know that I am making Simmie an elephant, all he knew is his little brother wanted one and he was going to figure out how to make him one.  So one day I saw Zeb gathering some odd items and I wonder what he was up to.  I didn’t have to wait long before he rushed over to me and whispered (a little to loud) “I’m going to make Simmie an elephant!” He was so excited and optimistic that the things he gathered would create his desired outcome.

I spent a little time with him looking at his items and told him that I thought though the desire is good,  I really didn’t think what he had to work with would turn out quite like he had hoped as he had gathered some paper, a couple of wayward straws (for the tusk I imagine) and a few other creative odds and ends.   So I told him that I just happen to be making an elephant that needed quite a bit of work done to him still and I wondered if he wanted to finish it and give it to his brother. Zeb was elated!  I was elated! I had started one gift for one of my sons that would end up bringing  joy to 2 of them. One for receiving and one for having his hand in to make it and to give it to someone who desperately wanted it.

I had done the machine sewing that needed done on my treadle for the elephant.  Zebulun had to sew on limbs, ears, eyes and tail.  I must say it turned out beautiful! He had fun doing it and received great joy in giving it. It was Simmies favorite gift! He has hardly let it out of his site since Christmas. I did get a picture of his elephant when he received it and I took another just the other day. The sock is already pilling but after thinking about if for a moment I reasoned that the elephant had hardly been out of Simmies arms since he received it. He carries it around all day and sleeps with it at night. It would be like wearing a sock 24/7 for 3 weeks (yuck) but it’s going to pill!

Keep in mind that part of the homemade/repurposed Christmas is to not feel the burden of expense.  It is to generate creativity and use what is at hand when possible.   The sock animals are small and didn’t need much, I already had the socks I used for Zebulun’s dog as I had gotten them a couple years back for this very project as well as the felt needed. I used buttons from my button jar that I have been amassing for years.  I needed filler for the bodies but the main problem was I didn’t have any.  I mentally went through what I had on hand and if there was anything I could use without purchasing but I drew a blank. Then I remembered we do have wool stuffed mattresses, real wool, sheared sheep, yep that kind of wool.  So I strategically pulled out enough wool from a few mattresses, being careful to spread the removal out over several areas, to fill the critters that had been made.  I wasn’t sure if I should be ashamed or proud of my resourcefulness.  I decided I felt more like Scarlet O Hara and her curtain dress then a mad women ripping mattress’s apart.

In the first photo Zeb and Simmie have their stock stuffies, the flash on the camera created the deer in the head light look. The second photo was from just the other day and shows the pilling already.

We had a few family items we gave to the little ones, a couple Indian arrow heads their great grandfather had collected. A couple of coins from their great grandfather. These made nice stocking stuffers. But the most price item of the stocking was an orange, an apple and an organic candy cane.

I had gone to the Dollar store, yes I go once a year. What could I possibly get there right? They have really cute Christmas wrapping from time to time. This year they had little Christmas tins and boxes.  So I made fudge and caramel corn and filled the tins with them.

Here is the play sets that we made. With Simmie’s woodland play set, Ron found an old hollowed out log in the forest and cleaned it up for the perfect woodland dwelling.

Zebulun’s castle and knight set:

Ron made a few more building blocks for them and they love building forts etc. They can’t seem to get enough.

RJ made each of the boys their own wood cup like he has which they have coveted.

Josiah made each these really amazing rubber band guns.

RJ made me a beautiful hand carved ladle from maple off of the property and Joisah made me a really neat stackable bookshelf that can be added to later if I would like.

For Ron the 4 boys worked together to get a neat log out of the forest and clean it up for an end table next to his chair. I love these logs! This photo is not of the actual log that they gave him this Christmas, I didn’t have a usable one on file as I am writing this. But it is very similar to this photo of another log that they harvested out of the forest. I love this log! It is rustic, solid and has character!

Simmie also received a hammer, a bag of nails and a wood block to pound away, he is fascinated with his fathers tools right night. If I cared to wager, I would have to say he has probably spent upwards 10 hours hammering thus far!

Zeb had asked for a hatchet earlier in the year. Our homemade Christmas was also allowed to be a refurbished Christmas. It just so happened that Ron found a hatch (also where we found Simmies hammer) at the restore and brought them home and cleaned them up with some steel wool and oil and they loved them!

A lot of us lose a lot of sleep over the financial stress of the holidays. We not only allow our surroundings to do so but we ourselves put a lot of burdens on ourselves financially to make sure that we give our loved ones “the gift”. But what is “the gift?” In our modern world of materialism it changes year to year, oh who am I kidding? It changes daily on what is being pushed as the latest and greatest or what our friends, coworks, neighbors etc recently got. We are humans and because of that all of us will have needs and wants that will change along with the tide. But are we teaching our children that “the gift” isn’t what is bought but what comes from the heart? Do we teach them that possessions are limited in their power to fulfill? That Santa is not real but family is therefore what is given from our heart is deeper then any bag Santa could carry? No matter what the gift is that is given, new, old, in, out, bought or made, as long as it comes from the heart it is worth receiving with our heart.