Living Lives of Loveliness, The Loveliness of Homemade Gifts

The Lives of Loveliness Fair will be held at By Sun and Candlelight this week.

Last year I blogged about homemade gifts and how special they were to me, and how I enjoyed making them. See My Domestic Church: The Loveliness of Homemade Gifts! This week.

Sometimes, whether we are delivering a homemade present or not, the card that goes with the gift can also be something wonderful to treasure and remember.

One of the things I always admired about the late first lady, Jacqueline Kennedy, is that she was well know for her personal handwritten notes of thanks, or little notes for birthdays, Christmas and other gifts. I still wish that I was as consistent in writing personal notes as she was.

I still have many of the personal notes and letters that my great aunts and grandmother wrote to me years ago. When I was about 12 I became very ill and had to be hospitalized. My great-grandmother sent me a beautiful card with her personal wishes for a speedy recovery and her signature. She had ten children, many grandchildren, and even more great-grandchildren so the fact that she personally remembered me was something I always treasured. I also have an old valentine from my grandma and grandpa from when I was three years old. All the toys and clothes and other niceties that probably accompanied these card are along gone and even forgotten, but have those cards that were personally touched by relatives who have since passed on makes me feel like there is still a connection there, because of course, there is.

So I think this year, part of my Christmas is going to include writing some heartfelt notes to go with the little gifts I give this year as my way of passing on a bit of myself. Sharing ones self is always the best gift of all isn’t it!