Gift Giving (and receiving) is My Favorite Part of Christmas

I realize how improper that title sounds coming from a traditional Catholic.  All my life elders have tried to teach me that giving of ourselves is what matters most.  We aren't supposed to get caught up in the materialism of Christmas. However, I find thinking about a person you love for weeks, trying to choose what to give them, a satisfying and spiritual experience.  It is a time for being considerate - even if we are on a budget - and bringing those people close to your heart.  I love this process and have been teaching my children to love it, too.  We spend a few days discussing their cousins and coming up with ideas before we go shopping for them. 

Mara and Della are a lot like Katie.  In fact they are all within three years of each other, so usually Katie has a handle on what they might want.  This year, she wanted to shop for them at Justice.  If you have a young lady in your life between the ages of 6 and 14, this is the store for you.  We picked out a cute t-shirt for each of them.  Della's was a beautiful mixture of blues with a subtle ruffle at the bottom.  Very appropriate for Della's quiet but strong demeanor. For Mara, on the other hand, we picked out a sparkle-filled, spunky light blue shirt.  She is the older and more boisterous of the three girl cousins.  We also bought Della a draw your own Star Wars book - she received two different drawing books at Christmas.  I love the feeling you get when it is obvious that you hit the target with your gift.  She was excited about the books, holding each up to show her mother.

Erik and Hank are the boy cousins that we buy for.  Hank is 5.  He is a riot to buy for.  We couldn't decide but knew we wanted to buy from the toy aisle.  We finally settled on a Hot Wheel toy that had a gorilla attached to it.  The gorilla holds cars in his hands and swipes at the cars flying past him off the track.  Cool.  He opened the box immediately and made his dad help him put it together in the middle of the present-opening circle.  Cute.  And Erik, the thirteen year old.  We searched for gifts for Erik, but always came back to iTunes.  Erik is very musical and technological.  iTunes made sense for him.  He opened it with a smile and said to his mom, "Cool.  iTunes to spend."

My turn.  I had my big sister's name.  She is a single mother who doesn't really think about herself much.  I shopped for her in Seattle, looking for something unique and personal that she could have to herself.  At Pike's Place Market, I found pretty and pint size ring bowls and jars for her dresser.  They were a pretty green color and had a dragonfly on them.  She liked them.  I also found a really pretty rosary for her and wrapped it inside one of the jars.

Since I hosted, she brought me a gift even though she didn't have my name.  A very fun and meaningful bottle of Merlot from Middle Sister's winery in California.  Hopefully you made that connection.  I am the middle sister.  I immediately posted a picture of it on Facebook.  So fun.  She was even nice and picked the Merlot which was called "forever cool."

My sister-in-law had my name.  Awesome.  She knows me well.  I got this beautiful purse.  She is like a mind-reader.  I switch my purses often, depending upon my mood, clothes, the weather...I love purses.  Last week I was wishing that I had a light brown purse to accent some of my more colorful clothes.  Now I have one!  It's a great, roomy but manageable sized purse.

In support of my blog, she also gave me a dutch oven.  I'm so excited.  I have all kinds of recipes that I could make in a dutch oven, but didn't have one!  Hey!  Cyberspace, share your dutch oven recipes with me!  I'd love to see some in the comments.  Merry Christmas to everyone.  I hope you felt as gratified about gift giving as my family did.  I'm sure that Jesus appreciates how much we think about each other during the gifting process.