Image courtesy of Grant Cochrane at FreeDigitalPhotos.net
It’s just a few more days before Christmas and I’ve got most of my shopping done, my cards are sent (we went digital this year), but I do have a few odds and ends to pick up still. Even though its kind of the last minute, that’s no reason to run to the nearest drugstore and get a Whitman’s sampler. I’ve come across some awesome ideas you should totally consider if you have anyone left on your list.
Red Gift Box by courtesy of Naypong / FreeDigitalPhotos.net
As the mother of two children, every year I encounter the same question from family and friends: “what do the kids want this year?” Of course my kids make lists. Professionally, in a former life, I even worked on a holiday gift list solution for moms because from the moment I gave birth, this has always been a conundrum–what is the right answer and how do you coordinate who is getting and giving what? Unfortunately the service I mentioned is no longer available, but these are some websites and apps you should check out if you’re looking to make list sharing with family and friends painless and simple this season…and beyond.
my son and me snuggling and posing
I’ve heard the saying “I don’t have any babies anymore” … I’ve probably even said it myself. I don’t think that’s true. As I dropped off my son this morning at school, it resonated without question from both my heart and gut, he will always be my baby.
my Dad and me circa 1989 (or ’90), Anguilla, BWI
The parent / child relationship is one of beauty and complexity. I am reminded lately of the added layers this bond must sustain when daughters start experimenting with their freedom and sexuality in adolescence. I won’t go into why I am reminded–those aren’t my stories to tell and I believe they are sacred to those individuals. What I will say is my family is near and dear to me and I am a mother and a wife. Forgive me for sharing the obvious, but before becoming a mother or a wife I was (and still am) a daughter and did a fair share of experimenting and testing bonds and bounds. My circumstances were not common, but they were not unique–nor were they often discussed until years after some damage had been done. Perhaps someday I’ll write about that (maybe, I’m still debating).
Image courtesy of shuttershock (c) Kristijan Zontar
I’m usually prompted to source new gift ideas because I am shopping for an event or occasion. Recently fantastical ideas have just surfaced unsolicited by way of Instagram, Facebook, Twitter (gotta love social media) and old-fashioned word-of-mouth in a lovely happenstance kind of fashion. Â So these are some AH-MAY-ZING looking tokens that I am dying to find the right occasion for–and I already have a few in mind–so I just had to share, and pay that good-gifting-kharma forward. Enjoy!
  
I’m very excited to talk about this new way of sharing my gift ideas with you! It’s called Glossi and so far I have a few issues already published with a few more on the way.
Glossi lets me turn my content into digital magazines, like this one on Summer Party Hostess Gift Ideas (featured above), and they really take a totally different shape and tone. I LOVE making them…I’m seriously addicted. What’s more, there are some really cool content creators making their own digital magazines on all sorts of topics and being ridiculously creative–check out Nina Garcia, Olivia Palermo, Lucky Magazine and categories like food, kids and family and lots more so do check them out online and on the App Store.
Related Links:
Offerings: A New Category
What’s This All About
First Time Gifts: Buying For A New Boyfriend or Girlfriend
6 Really Cool Stationery Ideas
One of my very dear friends has a travel photography blog, and it’s amazing. Her talent and fearlessness constantly inspire me and I am moved by her passion and commitment. She travels, camera in hand, to Bhutan, Botswana, Morocco and other remote and exotic places exquisitely documenting her journeys and combining two of her passions.
Although I’m not ready to go on safari tomorrow, her adventures have inspired me to explore ideas that tap back into passions I have set-aside because they weren’t practical and deconstruct the barriers, fears and confines I have erected because…well, because I did. This is what I uncovered…
I’ve struggled with regret much of my adult life–my verdict: it’s a toughie. When my father passed away in 1997, I was very lucky because we had tremendous communication and as I had matured we were able to speak very frankly so there was a lot we were able to say to each other. All that aside, once he was gone I was reminded of one particular event that I never got to talk to him about…something I regretted terribly.
I always get nostalgic this time of year. Seven years ago I was just dating my now-husband about six months and he invited me to come to Seder at his sister’s house. I was raised a Catholic girl–I’m not a practicing Christian today–and although I’m a far cry from Jewish, having been raised in New York City, I’ve been to a few Passover Seders before so I knew this was a big deal and not just any dinner.
With children, apologies are so simple. Usually a grown up–a parent or teacher, for example–say when it is called for: “say you’re sorry for hurting Johnny’s feelings.” Oh, OK. And then it happens, perhaps begrudgingly or with a pout, and 1-2-6 it’s over. Everyone is back at the sand table playing next to one another until the next infraction.
The Gifting Whisperer 