My Frugal Life: Consider Crafting for Christmas
Everything hit that month; insurance, car tags, we had to buy a new car battery, and we ended up with only 5 dollars in our pocket with just 3 days left before Christmas.
We had no Christmas gifts for our 13 year old daughter and 11 year old son. My husband and I talked it over. We knew it isn't gifts that make Christmas and that there are many parents out there who can never afford Christmas gifts for their children, but I'm sure many of those parents cry themselves to sleep on Christmas Eve. My husband and I decided I would go to the Salvation Army store to see what I could find.
The next day, to my great disappointment, I found that everything in the store was totally picked over, it was plain to see that I wasn't the only parent who was Christmas shopping at a second hand store. For my daughter, I found an ugly necklace made of sea shells, which I knew she would never wear and an even uglier, stretched out sweater that should have been thrown in the rag bag.
For my son I found a Hawaiian shirt that he wouldn't have worn to a dog fight and a mangled leather belt. I took my treasures home and wrapped them while I cried. I could picture the kids disappointment and disgust when they opened their so called gifts on Christmas morning. They knew we were having a rough time financially that month, but Christmas is Christmas.
The next morning the kids were excited. My daughter carefully opened the necklace while my son tore into the wrappings of his Hawaiian shirt. With big smiles on their faces they both were saying things like, "Oh, I just love it. Thank you so much, this is beautiful." We all knew they didn't mean a word of what they said and that their gifts would be making a trip back to the second hand store in a few days, but because of their attitudes, we were all able to have a happier Christmas that year.
ThriftyFun wasn't around back then, but if it was, I would have spent the 5 dollars on craft supplies and made some of those cute new craft projects that show up on their website every day like magic, then my kids would have actually loved their gifts instead of just pretending. Get crafting, it's never too early to start preparing for Christmas.
Amuck from Fairview Heights, IL
Do you have a frugal story to share with the ThriftyFun community? Submit your essay here: http://www.thriftyfun.com/post_myfrugallife.ldml
Disclaimer: ThriftyFun.com cannot accept any responsibility for any injury or damage that you may cause to yourself, others, or property when following any advice given on this site. Read the full disclaimer: http://www.thriftyfun.comdisclaimer.ldml If you find any information on ThriftyFun.com or in our newsletters that is either erroneous and/or potentially harmful to others, please Contact Us, immediately.