I am blessed to have most of my family living in close proximity to me. Which is a huge bonus, I am a last minute shopper. Oh, I have all the gifts planned well in advance I just like the rush of shopping in the final weeks before the big day.  Still I have a couple people in which there are just a few too many miles between us…….this of course means shipping gifts.

I always felt that the gifts I was sending far away lost some of the personal touch I was able to add to gifts I handed out in person.  Presentation is half of the fun in giving gifts! After a lot of creative juices working overtime, I came up with some fun ways to make the experience of receiving my gifts from afar a little more fun!

By using unique packing material for your shipping boxes ……..

~Use evergreens. Place your wrapped gift inside a shipping box full of greens. This is especially special for someone who lives in an area with out evergreens! Plus they smell wonderful!

~Use hard candies. I stole this one from a Paula Dean story.  Fill the shipping box with gift recipients favorite hard candy!

~How about peanuts? Not those awful Styrofoam peanuts that have wicked static and stick to everything under the sun, nope the real deal!  This is a great gift for a sports fanatic!

~Wood shavings make a great introduction to old fashion toys! Fill the shipping box with shavings and your gift recipient will surly feel like the gift is right from Santa’s work shop!

~White batting or pillow stuffing dusted with silver glitter will give the illusion your gift is packed in snow! Cotton balls will mimic snowballs!

Yes, I need to head to the post office early next week to get my few packages shipped out, I don’t want to brave those December 21st lines…….I’ll be shopping that day!

“Faith is believing when common sense tells you not to. Don’t you see? It’s not just Kris that’s on trial, it’s everything he stands for. It’s kindness and joy and love and all the other intangibles.” ~ Doris~Miracle on 34th Street 1947

By now you know how much I love this holiday season.  When I was a child I would wait all year long to see Miracle on 34th Street to be broad casted on television! I’d wrap myself up in Grandma’s afghan and string popcorn and cranberries for the birds with my sisters, while we watched the classic movie.  As I got older and realized the miracle of Santa was Mom & Dad, the movie became even more special……..for 96 minutes Edmund Gwenn had me I believing there really was a Santa Clause.  Now as an adult, Santa Clause has a completely different meaning, I love watching Santa come alive in numerous different ways in various people though out this beloved season!

One of my favorite stories of Santa is a childhood memory of my partner Ed’s wife, Susan………..

Susan’s Mom and Dad were always a bit more busy during the Christmas season than the rest of us. You see Susan’s dad is a Minister.  The Christmas season starting with Advent would literally consume the family’s time and ability to have special moments together. A minister’s family came second to all the other parishioner’s families.  Services, pageants, chorale sings, church suppers, caroling, paying calls to the sick, and philanthropic events all needing to be orchestrated, left little time for the minister’s kids.

But, when Susan and her brother Bill laid their heads on their pillows on Christmas Eve, they knew that a Christmas miracle would happen during the night.

Santa would come and transform the Doughty household into a Christmas story, just for them.  Reverend Bill with wife Shirley at his side would burn the mid night oil, in a mad rush to put up the Christmas tree, bring out the Christmas village, decorate the fireplace, wrap the gifts, and leave the milk and cookies on the table for Santa to snack upon during his hard night’s work. It seems that little Susan and Bill never saw the red and tired eyes of their parents on Christmas morning.

What a beautiful little Christmas miracle happened in their family every year.

I guess nobody really needs to know that this was the last possible bit of time left, for the Doughty’s to make a Christmas happen for their own kids.

Maybe the fact that they got it done every year truly was the miracle!  Rev. & Mrs. Doughty created wonderful memories for their kids………….I haven’t finished all the holiday decorations in the house, maybe I’ll save a few key items for my own Christmas Morning surprise…….hhhhmmm I wonder if the kids would see anything other than the gifts under the tree!

“I’m glad he took our presents. You can’t hurt Christmas, Mr. Mayor, beacuse it isn’t about the… the gifts or the contest or the fancy lights. That’s what Cindy’s been trying to tell everyone… and me. I don’t need anything more for Christmas than this right here: my family.” ~ Lou Lou Who How the Grinch Stole Christmas

I’m a fan of the Grinch, but I am a bigger fan of Cindy Lou Who.  Cindy my dear child, with your Fabulous Hair Do, you are wise beyond your years.   A few years ago my sister Debbie let her wisdom shine also.  She suggested we stop buying gifts for each one of our nieces & nephews, rather  have the children make gifts for their cousins.  ’Great!’ I thought, ‘Like I don’t have enough to do!’.  Of course I smiled and said ‘That is a wonderful idea’……………I wondered, how the heck was I going to get through making 14 additional gifts!?

I sat my kids down and told them what Auntie Debbie suggested, fully expecting it to go over like a lead balloon.  Instead it was received with excitement and great enthusiasm! They started listing ideas and asking when we were heading out to the store for supplies!

So what do kids give kids for gifts? Obviously the gifts were age appropriate, but here are some of the really successful gifts they have exchanged over the last few years!

• Marshmallow shooters!, the boys were busy all afternoon on Christmas!
• Personalized Library book bags
• Personalized Piggy banks
• Popcorn balls, perfect gift for a three year old to make!
• Personalized T-shirts, this one my daughter did kinda as a joke they each said ‘my cousin made me this silly shirt so I HAVE to wear it’ It was a huge hit!
• Mini Catapult, this was another huge hit keeping the boys occupied  for hours!

It was a huge success!  I will admit, I was a little worried if the kids would be disappointed. My children are considerable older than their cousins, I wondered how they would receive a homemade gift from a 2 year old?  Wow, they were great.  My daughter sat on the floor with her little cousin Lily, pouring over the book she made her, asking for her to explain the ‘pictures’ all while munching on the popcorn balls her bother had made.  My son was more excited about giving than receiving he sat on the edge of his seat as his cousin opened the mini catapult. When Andrew opened it and yelled ‘COOL!’ the look on Joey’s face was priceless! My kids were really experiencing Christmas.

Credit  should be given where credit is do.  Debbie has created a tradition that is teaching our kids priceless lessons and the true meaning of the holidays.   I am the oldest of four girls, do you know how tough that previous statement was to type?! I like to be the one coming up with all the great ideas! Don’t worry I got to recycle the idea with my husbands family the following year, and yes it is a continued success.

The kids are making their shopping lists this week. The building, painting, drawing, sewing frenzy will begin Saturday…….. I love watching them.  It’s times like these I am so proud of my kids!  I’m equally as proud of my sister, she has taught all of us a precious holiday lesson.  Thanks Debbie………Love you!

Green with Envy

Earlier this month I conducted an unofficial poll on my Facebook & Twitter sites. ‘What is your favorite color to decorate with?’ The majority of the votes were greens just to name a few, Chartreuse Green, Sage Green, Fern Green, Nantucket Green and Hunter Green where all hits!

It came as no surprise when various versions of green were the winner! See when you examine the psychology of the color green, it represents growth, serenity, nature and money. In these ever changing times all four of these elements describe our needs and our lives! We need economic progress; and we strive for some sort of peacefulness both on our home front and in the world. We are more conscience of our planet, we need to return to the basics and we all love to have a little extra change in our pockets to go ‘jingalingaling’!

I thought I could celebrate ‘green’ as the winner with some of my favorite home design green design items!

So, if you follow my blog you know that my No. 1 Design must have is life! What a bonus, the plant life usually is in the green color palette. When I am selecting plants for spaces I am always on the look for interesting textures & shapes in the leaves. This creates exciting patterns as light penetrates the leaves.

Here’s another fav of mine! Granny Smith Apples! Yep, simple elegant accessory that transforms into a tasty apple crisp! Honestly the warm yellow green color gives a great punch to any center piece! Think outside of the box and use unexpected containers to showcase your delicious splash of green! A Stainless Steel Colander, get daring stack the apples on a cake stand, give the illusion you just picked the apples and display them in a basket or one of my favorites fill a tall wide hurricane!

I just adore painted furniture, especially pieces from the Somerset Bay line. This line not just stunning and beautifully crafted, the designers have a great sense of humor…..all the colors are named after food! My kinda line! This flip top table shown to the right is in ‘jellybean green’ Yumm!

Nothing satisfies me more than finishing a room with great art! Here’s one of my favorites by artist Aleta Gudelski. The soft green hayfield is so soothing……I could almost walk right into the painting!

I could go on for pages on great green design elements……..I would love to see some of yours please do share! By the way the runner up was red….I can’t wait to share my reds with you!