Merry Christmas Everybody!

Tomorrow is Christmas Eve!  Odds are you've watched Miracle on 34th Street and visited family, smooched a bit under the mistletoe (thank you Pagans!), and have had your fill of figgy pudding.  If not...you better get hopping 'cause you're losing daylight folks.  I thought I'd share how we do our wrapping in the hope of pulling more mommas away from the huge mess and waste that comes from gift wrap.

Growing up we unwrapped Christmas on Christmas Eve but Ben....he did it Christmas morning.  As a mom I like the fact that I can send the kids off to bed, practically vibrating with excitement and some how they manage to keep theirselves in the bed all in the hopes of making it one.more.night!  I'm a wee bit psychotic that way...but I find it funny. 

Anyways, we'll have a glass of something...mead for me and a stout lager for my hubby which I do find much nicer scented than beer, and talk a bit about tomorrow/Christmas Day.  What we'll do....how early do we have to get up to go to his parents, how much crap will we be bringing back home, and how many toys will Ben's mother buy him?  (Yes...his mother purchases toys for a 36 year old man.  IT.DRIVES.ME.UP.A.WALL.  I SOO have a short fuse around the holidays...it's all that extra family time I think. ;) )  Reminisce about how long we've been married as Christmas is our halfway point in the year and we'll argue about the date we got married was it the 24th or the 25th?  I can never remember!

After having a glass we'll notice it's quiet, check on the kids and give a little giggle of excitement (Ben's a lightweight what can I say?! hehe!) that they're asleep and it's now time for Operation: Christmas Wrap 20 10.  If we're smart we will have dragged all the bags out (do you recycle gift bags?  I don't buy bags anymore and just keep the ones we get from birthdays and such.  Eco friendly baby!) and start packing the gifts for friends, family, inlaws and outlaws.  Ben tissues and stuffs, I tie,label and curl. 

After the racket we make and no one has came out we know we're good to go so we haul out the kids stuff.  Under beds, in closets, in cabinets, trunks, garage and yes...I've even stored gifts one year in an empty trash can.  I bought the can just for the gifts so it was clean ...and we needed a new one.  I've even stored gifts IN their room in the bin that holds their current size clothing (as they outgrow it they toss it in and voila! ready for the next kid after I neatly fold it.).

We don't use gift bags or wrapping paper for our kids.  I use fabric.  Every year you'll see lots of holiday fabric go on clearance.  I don't like the cutsie stuff and I prefer it be a solid color as 1...you never know when you need fabric to make clothes with and a gift bag won't keep you warm.  And, 2...it can be used for birthdays, anniversaries, graduation, Fathers Day, whatever!  So...I've been buying red, and green but I'm really wanting some other colors.  So until I get each of us our own color I just use the flannel and felt and other fabric I have in my fabric stash to wrap. 

This lets me have some fun 'cause all my flannels are from when I planned on cloth diapering Sunshine with some AIOs (all in ones are like washable disposable diapers with velcro tabs).  We ended up using EC (Elimination Communication ) and didn't need any extra diapers so...I've a LOT of flannel.  Since I'm gender neutral I picked out all the fabric I found cute.  There's Bad to the Bone, Unicorns, little toadstools, Frogs, Knights with Castles, motorcycles, space, a Supergirl...just lots.  I take silky ribbons that I keep every year and after 'wrapping' it like you would with paper I wrap it with the ribbon.  Sometimes I'll pull it up and have this poof of fabric with a big bow.  That looks nice for the solid colors.  I'll take some pictures of ours to share with ya'll and hopefully you can use the idea next year.  Remember...after Christmas sells!

You can use fabric for so much stuff!  There's nothing to throw away, everyone will help clean up 'cause they don't want to lose their gift wrapping er...um...really Christmas gift.  You can pack all your loot in a yard or two and make like a hobo and carry it off to be put away.  Then, you can toss it in the washer and dryer and it's ready for the next gift event.

Next year I hope to make some fabric boxes that break down flat because not having something hard does make the stacking of gifts not so neat.  Sunshine's first Christmas I ran  out of fabric so we just stuffed things unwrapped with just ribbon and a label.  The kids were just as excited.  We also plan on making next year an entirely handmade Christmas for our extended family too.  We'll be alerting them to it and I'm going to share with my MIL stuff I'm making for my nieces and nephews. 

Oh yeah...and IF you do have a handmade Christmas...seriously...start after Christmas is OVER.  I have 3 unfinished hats that were for my MIL, hopefully future sister in law (my BIL SO got lucky with this girl.  She's great with all the kids and she's a lot younger so...she can chase the kids this summer at get togethers!  And...she actually speaks nicely which is automatically an upgrade from my last SIL.) 

Well...I've plans to share what I've made after the holidays for the girls.  We bought them a few things off craigslist that they've always wanted but I would never pay that much for and well...craigslist pricing ROCKS! 

I'll share with you gifts I've made for some bloggy friends and I really hope they all like theirs.

Merry Christmas and I hope you have a blessed year where your best of this year is the worst of next year!

Honey