The Perfect Christmas Basket

By Cheryl Dickow -

As television commercials and store circulars clamor for you time and money this Christmas season, you may be feeling—like so many others—a yearning to get back to basics.
To reclaim Christmas and its meaning.

 One way to do just that is to make a commitment to give gifts that matter—gifts from the heart.

 A perfect gift to consider for friends, teachers, co-workers, and family this year is a Christmas basket.

 A Christmas basket is something that you create with the recipient in mind which means you can make a dozen of them and they will all be a bit different, or you can consider ways in which all your friends and family are similar and make the same basket for a dozen different people.
Here are some easy tips to get you going for the perfect Christmas basket:

 ü Make a list of the people for whom you typically shop so that you know how many baskets to purchase. Your baskets can be any size and kind of container (sewing basket, garbage can, pet bed, hat box, utility bucket—you get the idea) so when you take your list to the store, make sure you keep an open mind. Check out stores like TJ Maxx, JoAnn Fabrics, and Big Lots.

 ü Include a Christmas movie or two. Maybe one that makes you cry and one that makes you laugh out loud. You can go with classics like George C. Scott’s A Christmas Carol or something where the theme just revolves around Christmas time like Family Man or New in Town. Just make sure the movies are age appropriate!  read more>

  Cheryl Dickow www.BezalelBooks.com

Comments

  1. Melanie Jean Juneau10:45 am, November 11, 2013

    we give huge stockings stuffed with such ideas but I love the idea of a basket!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Memorare

By Helen Gonsalves -
Image
This popular prayer, a favorite of many Catholics, dates back to the 15th century and takes its name from the first Latin word of the prayer, "memorare," which means "remember." The Memorare is of unknown authorship, although it has been attributed to St. Augustine (354-430), St. John Chrysostom (c. 347-407) and, with more reason, to St. Bernard of Clairvaux (c. 1090-1153). St. Bernard's sermons on Mary were famous, and it was his Cistercian monks in the monastery of Citeaux in the 12th century who popularized the name "Our Lady" for Mary. The Memorare has also been attributed to the French cleric Claude Bernard (1588-1641), known as the "poor priest" of Paris, whose homilies contain passages that echo its words. No matter who wrote this prayer, it was Father Bernard who did much to popularize it, teaching it in hospitals and prisons, where Mary's intercession was effective in working miracles of grace. The first manuscript of the Mem
Read more

The Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary

By -
Image
This is the image most often associated with the writings of the Belgian mystic Berthe Petit. She promoted devotion to the Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary. During my preparation for the retreat I am giving at the end of the month in Pantasaph, North Wales, I began reading a book by the late John Haffert (once the lay leader of the Blue Army of Fatima). His theory in the book, which speaks of God's "last effort" to convert the world before the coming chastisement, is that we are now living in the third or fourth "day" of the Fatima week. At this time, according to Haffert, we should be promoting devotion to The Immaculate Heart of Mary. I also consulted another book by Dr. Courtnay Bartholomew (whom I have been privileged to meet) which also speaks of the importance of this devotion, linking it with the writings and visions of the mystic Berthe Petit, and the importance of the full title of the Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart. These things will feature in
Read more

Why Modesty Is Not Subjective

By -
Image
Hi there, ya'll!  The modest fashion world is one very diverse place.  Even among Catholics, the definition of "modest apparel" can vary greatly from person to person.  Recently I joined a Facebook group that advertised itself as a haven for Catholic women of all ages to share ideas for modest style and makeup and was hoping to learn more about modesty from my fellow Catholic sisters.  After a few days of being a member, though, I sadly left the group feeling a bit discouraged.  No two members seemed to agree on ANY aspect of modesty whatsoever, and the prevailing theme of the whole group was that modesty is subjective, it means something different for each woman and each woman gets to decide what she considers is "modest".  One woman very emphatically declared that she wears bikinis every summer to the beach and doesn't feel that this violates the virtue of modesty in the least.  The same woman also announced that she was never going to caution her d
Read more