Wednesday, December 03, 2014

Published 8:23 AM by with 2 comments

The Ultimate Holiday Gift and Advent Guide

Advent has already begun, Christmas is a few weeks away, and the new year is right around the corner. Wow! If you're anything like me, you have definitely not finished your Christmas shopping yet, so here are some great ideas that I've found online to help us all along in this endeavor : )  Let me know if you have any other links to add, or if you found any of the ones listed here helpful!



Here are some articles about this holiday season that I am excited to share:

I love this article on how to respect children during the Christmas season. {A must-read for parents!}



Here are home-made gift ideas for children and adults:



Little Lantern Child {free knitting pattern, perfect for Solstice}

Do-It-Yourself Holiday Gift Ideas

Wurm: the Best Winter Hat {free knitting pattern from Ravelry}

For children ages 3-7ish: put together a small box of seasonal, personal, and unique items so they can start their own Nature Table (check out more ideas here).

Make these cute crafts as gifts to give or put together a kit for a child to make later.

Bluebird of Happiness {free knitting pattern from Ravelry... I just want to make a ton of these and give them away to my friends for New Year's gifts!}

Tiny House Art: create a kit with all the necessary items and then plan a special time to make these together!

Sew-It-Yourself Tea Wallet, for the die-hard tea drinker in your life.


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Here are other wonderful gift ideas for all ages:





The Ultimate Ethical Shopping Guide: a List of Good Companies with a Conscience {PLEASE read!}

62 Educational Toys and Games, divided into age groups





Gift Ideas for Writers  {and book lovers too!}



Issues from Kindred, a beautiful magazine "that uses the power of story to bring people together".

Issues from the delicious seasonal series of Taproot, a magazine that explores "living fully, digging deeper". I received the first year's magazines last Christmas from my sweet husband, and I'm absolutely asking for another set of them this Christmas too, because they were just that amazing!


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Here are several great ideas to celebrate and count down Advent:


The Giving Advent Calendar: a Meaningful Christmas Countdown


The Greatest Gift: Unwrapping the Full Love Story of Christmas {the book comes with a free online download of Jesse Tree ornaments}

Celebrating Advent with the Jesus Storybook Bible {This is the plan that we're using for 2014, because Harmony is just at the age where she is beginning to enjoy and understand this book. We read the story for the day at breakfast with the advent candles lit, then afterwards open up the drawer for the corresponding day on our advent calendar. Each day there is either a tiny piece of candy (like a chocolate coin) or a piece of paper with instructions on it for a gift or an activity, for both my sister and Harmony. So far it's been a hit!}




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2 comments:

Unknown said...

Thank you for linking up! I'm hopping over from the Letters to Amelia blo. This is such great information to have on hand during the busy holiday season!

Lyssa said...

Thanks for visiting, Mandy! I like having lots of options for the holidays : )