Had a short work day today so once I got home I thought I work on some stocking stuffer coupons for Bee and C.  Coupons are easy to make, inexpensive, and fun to give :)  You can choose to be creative or simple.  The best part is that you can personalize each coupon !!!  At our house, they proved to be very popular (favorite) with my hubby.  He even tried to use the same coupon twice !!!  I usually make one book for C every year but it's my first time making a coupons book for Bee this year.  We'll see how she respond when she check her stocking come Christmas morning.

I try to make each coupon unique and special as I really want Bee and hubby to enjoy them !  For C, I know he appreciates some alone time to play his musical instruments, sleep in on Saturday (who doesn't ?), movie date, and no chore day, so his coupons tends to tailored to what I know he would really like.  I also included a coupon for a day trip to a location of his choice.  Bee likes different activities and outings so I made her coupons to include field trip, snowman building, candy treat, swimming, a sleepover at a hotel (she loves sleeping at hotel (she associates it with pool = plenty of swimming time)) and I gave some blank ones to C to fill out for her (I saw he wrote a coupon for a brunch date with him :)

I'm in love with this wood round center piece (from our friend's wedding).  The wood & greeneries are simply beautiful.

I made Bee's coupons book's cover with picture of My Little Ponies.  She loves them !  I wanted to use a picture of each pony on her coupon but there weren't many quality winter theme images so I stuck with Christmas theme.  They're quite cute !!!  For C I used pictures of Forever Friends' teddy bear !  I drew him one in my art class back in 1994 (with Chinese characters as I was obsess with all things Chinese then !  my cassette tapes were filled with songs from Andy Lau, Leon Lai, Jacky Cheung & Aaron Kwok).  It was my first gift to C which he framed it up on his room then and now it's in Bee's room.  I thought it's nice to revisit the memory of that bear again.

Here are the pdf files of the designs I made.  Feel free to print and make your own coupons book.  Enjoy !

CHRISTMAS COUPON PRINTOUTS < this folder has the cute cartoons and the forever friends teddy bear coupons

 

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him
shall not perish but have eternal life.

Every year when December arrives, I get nostalgic thinking about all Christmases passed.  We didn't have much growing up and decoration for the tree is just mainly lights and fluffed up cotton balls that my brother and I put all over the tree so it looks like snow.  Under those twinkling lights, my brother and I would dance from one end of the room to the other while my mom and grandma smiles at us, encouraging us to dance some more.  There aren't many gifts, just one each to be exact, from my mom, and a couple dollars from my grandma.  I don't remember what gifts we received over the years, but what I remember though, we were happy.  We were happy just to be in each other's presence.  I looked back fondly at all the tree and house decorating times with mom and brother, and memories of my lovely grandma, grinning from ear to ear over a soap box or a chantilly gift set she gets each year. She's always so thankful.  It was wonderful.

It was never about the gift, we didn't have much, but we were filled over with love and laughter and warmth.  It's the time we spent together that stuck with me.  It's those moments that lives on.

In recent years, with the additional of kids, we've received many cards and gifts from families and friends come Christmas time.  We feel blessed for them.   Every year I would watch the kid/kids ripped furiously through boxes and boxes of presents on Christmas morning.  The joy it seems, as though to be in the unwrapping of presents, of ripping up paper.  They do like and play with the toys too, but after like a week, they moved on to something else.  No toy ever was a "favorite" for long.  Witnessing all these, I desire to make Christmas not about just stuff for our kids.  The reason of the season is to celebrate Christ's birth, thankful for His gift of love.  These few days of holiday for us before the year end give us time to be together, to spend with family and friends !  I love sharing meals with them and discuss the world while the children run around, laughing, giggling, and crying !   Those are special times.  I hope our kids embrace those time and also our family traditions !  I hope happy memories will live on in our kids, like how it was with me,.... trim the tree, bake cookies, count down to Christmas day, fill the shoebox, pray for the snow...

Our kids might be too young to fully appreciate the gesture of the person who bought them their Christmas gifts, but I try my best to explain to them so they understand how special it is to be thought of, and to receive a gift, any gift.  I find kids are a bit self centered naturally :)  Everything is "me" and "mine" !  It's a life long practice, the attitude of gratitude, it doesn't come over night or a month or a year.  At 35 I'm still practicing to be grateful !  it does come easier with practice, that I can assure you.  The more we appreciate what we have, the less the "want", the less we feel the need to keep up, or to prove ourselves or others...it's a very healthy mindset.  A grateful heart is a happy heart !

I made some stockings for us and Bee helped me with the fuzz balls decoration.  Inspired by our Hungry
Caterpillar craft time !  Those fuzz balls are quite fun to work with.

Our homemade count down mailbox !  When the "Open Me" arm is up, it signaled Bee to check
the mailbox.  Some day there's treat in there for her and Lovebug, some day there's an invite
for cookie baking or book reading.  I try to be creative :)