Parenting Blog

     Many parents and grandparents give ornaments every year as a themed gift, an inexpensive but personal gift that accumulates into a collection and is treasured for a lifetime. One child gets an angel ornament each year, for another it's always a bell or a polar bear.
     There are so many ways to make this special: one reader says her grandmother made ornaments by hand each year, and her grandfather wrote a poem to go along with each one. Michele Isaacson figured out what to do with a weathered old quilt that had belonged to her late grandmother: she cut out the least worn sections and sewed them into stuffed heart and star ornaments for everyone in her extended family.

A few years back, Emily Sagor's extended family got bored with the practice of drawing names from a hat and giving a token gift to that aunt or this cousin. “It was somewhat unfulfilling, because you would ask what they wanted, and then buy that thing,” says Emily.  The new practice is much more popular: in September or October, nominations are collected for charities about which family members feel passionate. Each person who nominates a charity explains what it does and why they care. Then the family votes and the winning charity is announced. Checks flow to Emily's aunt, who writes one big check to the organization in the name of the whole family.  Emily says the “winning” charities have included a hospice that sent a volunteer “to help with my grandmother's last few months of life.” This new holiday gift-giving strategy has produced some unexpected rewards: “Each year, we end up not only learning about organizations that are worth our attention, but we also learn more about each other and what matters to each of us,” explains Emily.