The Cup of Jo 2017 Holiday Gift Guide

I love a Cup of Jo gift guides and posting this link because I don’t think it competes with what this blog is doing! But, here is a link to a great tween gift guide! If you scroll and has different categories in “Childern.” https://www.dosaygive.com/holiday-gift-guide/children/

( I am not affiliated with that blog, just find it helpful!)

Agreed! Teen girls are so hard. The clothes they ask for just aren’t fun to open Christmas morning.

Aw that’s nice! Good idea!

I got to know one of our mail carriers as well as one gets to know a mail carrier. He would always go the extra mile to make sure our packages were kept safe, and was just a really nice guy (he was like Mr. McFeely on Mr. Rogers). I typically left homemade cookies for the prior mailman, but I wanted to give this guy a little more, so I got him a gift card to a European pasty shop near our house. He was very appreciative.

PS, what a wonderful idea. I hope coj writes about this, would be so helpful for many. I’m so sorry you lost your dad. I’m sure it’s really hard coming up to the holidays and missing him. I think just taking a moment at your holiday dinner and sharing memories of him would be lovely. Maybe let others know before hand?

I’m so sorry about your dad. I lost my dad, suddenly and unexpectedly, a few years ago and the first Christmas without him was very hard for me, so I get where you’re coming from and I feel for you and your family.

Are there special traditions you valued that you shared with him for the holidays that you could continue in his honor? For instance, I always associate carving a jack-o-lantern with my dad, so each Halloween I place a pumpkin on his grave; this way I’ve made a new and special tradition for myself as a way of keeping his place and his memory in my celebrations.

Also, the first Christmas after my dad passed away, I got my family members a book of pictures of him that I put together using Pinhole Press (thanks cupofjo!), which everyone treasures and displays in their homes. It was an emotional gift for people to open, so it might feel too raw for you to do that just yet, but it was a way that I honored him in that year.

So very sorry for your loss :( My heart goes out to you and your loved ones. My parents are divorcing, so I am also feeling pain at the thought of the upcoming holidays but for a different reason.