A Christmas Journey

This post is a lot of reading, so if you don't have time now just click one link and read the others tomorrow. They really are must read stories, so no skimming ok?!

Grab your tissues, or "Kleenex" as Kevin insisted Brian must call them, and come on a Christmas gift giving journey with me.

You see, so often we ditch our budgets and get too wrapped up in the amount of gifts under our tree. I'm going to share with you three inspirational gift giving blog posts that will make you rethink the way you do Christmas.

First we head on over to Emily Falconbridge's blog. Emily is a famous scrapbooker/crafter who has just moved back to Australia after a short stint living in the United States.

When we were looking for a first birthday present for Brian I made a comment on Emily's blog asking her to do a post on children's toys as there are certainly no FP toys in her household. Here's part of her response "we are a steiner family so their 'toys' are things like baskets of wood stumps, pinecones, smooth stones, shells, baskets of silks (from op shops ours are!), etc etc with a few wooden toys, handmade dolls etc".

When Emily did a post this past October openly telling the world that her budget per child was $50, I was both surprised and thankful. The thought is so very much there and I love that! Here's her must read post: Emily's $50 post.

Next up we head on over to the Cosmo Cricket blog. Cosmo Cricket is a super cool scrapbooking company run by husband and wife team Julie and Eric Comstock and their now bestest buddy Lindsay. Julie and Eric have four kids and when I read this post by Julie I was amazed by her creativity and regifting capabilities. Regifting is now officially the way to go. Read Julie's post here.

Lastly we have the tear jerker. Pull those Kleenexes (sp?) a little closer. I read this link from Ali Edward's blog many moons ago. It was part of her creating process for her December Daily in 2008, although I have a sneaking suspicion I read it on her blog long before that. If this is not the true gift giving spirit then I really don't know what is.