Simple Gifts for Christmas...Joy-filled and Christ-centered

Gift making is underway at our home with many helping hands to make the load lighter {although not always neater}.  We are excited to give you a peak at what we will be sharing with family, friends, neighbors, music instructors and others of whom the Lord has brought into our lives.

With the colder weather sneaking back into our Florida days and nights, this makes for the perfect gift to warm the body...

This simple gift idea was found at My Recipes site.  I designed the label you see in the picture, which you are welcome to use for your gift jars.  Just save the picture below to your "Pictures" by right clicking, click "save picture as" and name it then enter to "save".  To print these, you'll go to your library, select pictures, locate the file name, click to print and then select to print the 4 to a page option.  If you need further help, feel free to email me. 

The other cute and "sweet" gift the children worked on today was a candy filled whisk.  We decided to do a candy mix of Tootsie Rolls {fun for kids}, Peppermints {nice for the adults}, and Hersey Kisses {to fit the theme}.  The idea for this fun gift {perfect for neighbors, teachers, coaches, community servants, etc.} was found at Organized Christmas where you will find the label we selected to use, as well as another printable option.  Graham & Alyssa teamed up to work on this project and I helped to attach the labels.  This is a very kid friendly gift making idea that young children can do together {of course, you may need to monitor their progress or it could turn out the their tummies are filling faster than the whisks...}

We'll continue working on Christmas gift giving this week and the week's ahead, with many baskets of love to give to others.  This is such an opportunity to take the focus off of ourselves; out of our love for Christ and desire to "be bright lights for Him", seek to bless others.  Our love is derived from the understanding of the love offering made for us.

Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.”

John 4:10

For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans 6:23

But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God...

John 1:12

He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?

Romans 8:32

Just a few of the baskets we finished putting together today.  Lots of goodies in each one with Christ as the foundation and center of gifts inside.

Our desire is to follow God's example...to give like He has given and in like manner with understanding that...

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.

James 1:17

It's that wonderful acronym J.O.Y. put into action...

J ~ Jesus first

O ~ Others next

Y ~ Yourself last



Yummy banana nut bread made from homegrown bananas given to us by a friend.

Our baking was started today {just a bit} with more in the days ahead.  One of these years, we will really get a jump on things by making all our cookie dough in November & freezing the scooped balls, so the bulk of our work will be done.    Come December, just pop the cookies in the oven, cool and put in the desired gift containers.  {That will be a future season of life, when our littles are grown up more...REALITY.}  I try to pick up baskets, decorative tins, food bags, etc. after the end of each holiday so I have them AND save lots of money by doing it that way.  Always trying to stretch the dollar...I also try to buy in bulk devotional type books, ornaments, etc. after Christmas is over to use in gift baskets for the following year.  By doing this, I am able to get the best deal, saving  money and increasing our giving for the following year.  That's another post though...

What gift giving ideas are you doing this year in bulk?  I so enjoy reading your comments and I know it is a blessing to my readers to get some new ideas.  Consider sharing a gift jar recipe or other child friendly gift making project in the comments section below. 

Blessings ~

Linked to:

Joy hosts Artful Tuesdays



Host of Homemaking Wednesdays

Host of Teach Me Tuesdays

Host of The Mommy Club Resources & Solutions

Host of Works for Me Wednesday