Merry Christmas

I love wrapping Christmas presents - it's my favourite part of Christmas-time. This year I honestly loved shopping for gifts, and that's not something I say often. And you know why? Because I didn't set foot in the mall. Once. BAM!

And after looking (aka, drooling for hours) at all of the DIY gorgeous ways to wrap gifts this year, I knew I had to do something special. Because I really believe gift-giving is about more than what's inside the paper. Maybe that's because I grew up in a home that was careful with money (my mom was a single mom for a long time), and we always saved the wrapping paper (and now get made fun of for it as an adult - c'est la vie!)

So this year, I decided to make my gifts really very lovely. 
I used brown packaging paper because I liked how simple and nostalgic it felt. I also am a bit of a craft supply hoarder. So I went upstairs to my secret stash under my bed (shh, don't tell) and found some bright red cheery cardboard buttons, white ribbon with a golden paisley design, and lots and lots of stick-on rhinestones.

Seriously, all these things were dug out of a $1 craft bin at Michaels. You really never know when you'll need/want things like this, so when I see a good deal, I grab first and ask questions later.

I'm an illustrator by trade, so of course I had to bust out my fine-point sharpie and hand-draw the tags directly onto the paper.
I varied some of the tags; some just with initials, some in fancy cursive (because I was taught calligraphy in undergrad), and wrote some names almost as big as the package. I put on some Christmas music, and had a lot of fun! I really don't like commercialized Christmas (Frosty the Snowman and all that nonsense), but the beautiful religious songs about Jesus really hit a chord. My favourite is O Come Emmanuel.

Even though Christ was not born on December 25th, I still believe that Christmas-time really is about celebrating His coming into this world; and is the reason we give gifts... to commemorate the gift we received in Him. Emmanuel means "God With Us", and I believe He truly is.

My sister Sarah is coming home tonight, and she, Mom, Grace (who is 11), and I are going to decorate the gingerbread house, watch the Ravens game, and then go to the midnight candlelit service at Church on Christmas Eve. I am so excited. Christmas is my favourite holiday of all, and I find myself always getting teary-eyed at the service. God has always been faithful to me, and somehow even when things seem dire, He always provides for me. And I feel it most of all at this time of year.

Blessings to you and your families, lovely birds ~ Merry Christmas!

{ all photos in this post (c) erin mcmanness 2011 }