jackiwebber  says:
3 months ago

Good Morning on this brisk Wednesday from Southern, IN. Our temps are in the 40's at night and the 60's to the rare 70's during the days. All of this is to change tomorrow when we are hit with MUCH colder, not cooler, temperatures! I absolutely love fall. Since I have a chronic pain condition that requires an implanted morphine pump, as well as oral pain medications for break through pain, I am typically hot at all times (due to the narcotics). It's an interesting mix though since I moved here from Olrando, Florida. At times, it seems just right with my acclimated FL body temperature and the record low Indiana Fall temperatures. It's really bad for me physically when Winter hits though. I don't mind being indoors with the heat set very low, but the cold weather causes my pain from the reflex sympathetic dystropy along with arthritis to be quite severe. The happy side of this (have to look for that golden lining in each day!) is that I do love to read, so I go through books like most people eat Tic Tacs in the winter. I enjoy creating scrapbooks, especially very personalized scrapbooks to give as Christmas gifts, but it is hard for me physically. I work best sitting on the floor with my spread all around me, tools, paper, adhesive, stickers and embellishments. I can get my body down to sit (no, I'm not over-weight), but after being in that position for more than ten minutes causes me a lot of trouble and pain when I try to stand. I am eager to begin new scrapbooks for this year's Christmas gifts though. It's a very time-consuming gift, but it's also very economical since I long ago invested in the necessary tools. This makes me feel like I'm giving a "free" gift, which is so important in this rough economy, but the people I give the books to seem to find them priceless. It's fun to find a family member related to the person I am making the book for. They become my secret service member, collecting pictures and special postcards, letters, etc that I can add to the scrapbook to personalize it the best I can. I like to leave room for this family member to journal the emotions and facts of the exact feelings that best describe the pictures I have used. At times, the friend decides to leave this journaling area blank though and let the receiver write their own memories. I do struggle with the feelings that I'm giving a "cheap" gift and feel a degree of guilt that I don't have a store-bought, fancy gift, all in bright, shiny, new packaging, complete with professional gift wrap--including amazing ribbon and bows. To date though, I have received very positive comments from those that receive these scrapbooks. It's a toss up between two particular albums I have made that I consider to be my very favorites. One, I made for my dad. My dad isn't well and I used the opportunity to create a huge scrapbook containing pictures of him and I together, showing a lifetime of memories. I was able to journal my true feelings of love and appreciation to my dad with each photo memory. The other scrapbook I created that has had a very special meaning to me is the one I made a few years ago for a special friend. Her husband had been diagnosed with throat cancer that year and they had just completed radical medical treatment and he was back to work. They share eight children and a long marriage/friendship. Mary, my friend, wanted to give her husband a very special gift that Christmas and was struggling to think of the perfect gift idea. I offered to make a scrapbook for her to give to him. She finally accepted and then set out to pour over their family photos that would give a pictorial of their life together. It included photos, newspaper clippings and more. The honor I felt at being trusted with these special items went beyond words. Mary had added post-it notes to the back of each photo so I could have an idea of what was happening at the time each photo was taken and create pages that matched accordingly in theme. I felt so honored to share in their life and this gift. I finished it just days before Christmas and expected it to arrive on Christmas Eve! Fortunately, to our surprise, it arrived on the 23rd. Mary was so pleased with the book. She carefully wrapped it and hid it under all of the gifts under their tree so that it would be the very last gift to be seen and opened. When she handed her husband the gift, I'm sure he felt the obvious dimensions of a book, especially since their marriage had contained many gifts of books, a family owned book store and the fact that Mary was a talented, published author! According to Mary, David opened the gift and was a bit unsure of what exactly it was. As he quitely paged through the book, seeing their life unfold through pictures dating back to their dating years, emotion showed in his face and it was indeed the perfect Christmas gift. My point in this post is that as we look ahead to the upcoming holidays, why not think beyond the brick and mortar stores with packaged, new gifts, money, or gift cards and reach to make this holiday different. A scrapbook might not be a gift fitting for a loved one on your list. Perhaps you don't feel qualified to create such a book or have very limited time. Do not give up if this IS indeed a gift you would like though. There are people like me that get great joy in creating these books for others. You are welcome to contact me if this interests you. I have created books with all of the photos and items already adhered, but I have also created very decorative books, usually based on a theme (marriage, a particular holiday, a baby book, a book for a child/teen) and then the recipient or friend can add their own favorite pictures. This is a bit more limiting as I have tools to create various shapes and if I intend to crop (cut) a picture into a circle, I can do so, usually adding a larger colorful circle to appear as a border for the circle photo. If the recipient does not have the tools necessary to create a cirle for this area, it can cause problems. I welcome headlines for each page that are symbolic for the gift-recipient. You don't have to make a scrapbook to give a personalized gift. There are so many options that I urge you to look into. Have you thought about a hand-written letter to a parent, friend or child, written on beautiful paper that describes what this person means to you? If you care to expand upon this idea, you can go to a store such as Michael's craft store and have your letter matted and framed....and always watch your Sunday paper for the Michael's ad circular for a 50% off matting/framing coupon! Has your child created a beautiful piece of artwork on paper? You can do the same with this. When my oldest son was six years old, he created a picture of him with his Nana (my mom). It was so touching with his depiction of him with his Nana, complete with stick people with large circle heads, no necks, with arms coming straight out under the heard, a straight line for a body and stick legs and circle feet. He labeled each person and wrote "I love my Nana" on this colorful page. I added the date he made this creation, along with his complete name and age and had it matted and framed. That six year old is now an almost 20 year old. He is a combat medica in the US Army. It is a safe statement to say that he did not develop an artistic ability/gift over the years, yet capturing this priceless drawing and preserving it for generations to come is priceless. Can you sew? How about quilting or crocheting? Those items mean so much to the receiver. The last forever. If you are struggling for a gift idea for someone on your list that you don't now too well personally, perhaps your hair-dresser or mailman, consider a magazine subscription to a magazine that is geared toward a personal interest belonging to them. This is a gift they will receive all year long. Long after the pretty paper is put in the trash. Long after the stockings are taken down and the ornaments packed away awaiting another year, these gifts keep coming and will remind your friend each month of your generosity as they pour over each issue.