Thrifty Fifty: Tip # 24 Our Thoughtful Christmas

This is part of The Thrifty Fifty series.  Each week I will give a tip on saving money, re-using, re-purposing, frugality, energy efficiency or just plain smart living.  If you have a thrifty tip to offer and would like me to feature it here, please drop me an email.  I'd love to hear from you. 

Last year I posted about how to have a  Thrifty Christmas.
Since then we have moved home, and you'll know when you've done this yourself, you discover just how much stuff you have; and just how much of it is unnecessary.

So the last thing I feel like doing this Christmas is adding to our stuff by buying all the kids more toys.  Of course I don't want them to go without and Santa will be coming, just in a more thoughtful way.
I've managed to pick up some gifts from the op shop already.  Mostly books to encourage my budding readers, but I also found a couple of cool toys that were on the "wanted" list.
Santa will be bringing games to assist us all through the school holidays too.  This is a great way to bring family members together, I know for my kids there is no better special treat than when I sit down and play a game with them.

Of course there will be a handmade element to my gift giving.  So far I have made my 5yo a special wallet, my hubby a gift for gardeners, for the 2yo I've made a car pillow (tutorial here) and my little girl has put in a request for a pyjama bag doll.  My 8yo also loves handmade gifts and often has requests, so I'm waiting to see what he comes up with.  I've decided to save on the wrapping paper this year and make gift bags instead.  These can be made quick and easily, in all sizes and best of all, they are re usable for next year!

It's not all about the gifts of course.  We are having a large extended family gathering which I'm really looking forward to.  To make it work we are all pitching in and everyone will be bringing something.  I recently had a sit down with my MIL and SIL to write a list on who will be contributing what.  It was fun to see the menu list coming together and to flip through recipes books gathering ideas (and drooling a bit).

Our garden is currently abundant in cabbage, onions and potatoes, so my recipes will centre around those ingredients.  I recently made the most delicious Vietnamese Salad suggested to me by my twitter friend Snappy Shoes. If the eggs and strawberries are still coming in strong, then I also see Pavlova on the horizon.

Good Food Pavlova

Mostly the sentiment of Christmas is about the time we spend together with the people we love.  Enjoying the Summer days together in the build up to Christmas and relaxing together in the aftermath.  I hope mostly that we spend our days laughing and learning from each other and that you and your family do the same.