Gifts for Winter Solstice

We’ve managed to extricate ourselves from the gift-insanity this year, after several years of family prep-work. It feels a little strange not to be buying anything extra at this time of year–as I have every other year of my life. But we don’t need anything–and neither does anyone in our families. The kids received wool long-underwear and old school Sesame Street DVDs from one side of the family, and movies and books from the other side of the family–and these gifts were opened and used upon arrival. (Even useful gifts feel extravagent some days, especially when reading about the Brodie family.) We’re figuring out what food and treats to put in the kids’ stockings. And each of our four children will be receiving one gift this holiday season.

I asked each of the children, “If you could have one new special thing, what would you like to have?” Gretel wants a baby doll (and I copied that request for Teri). Jaja wants a doll with a wedding dress, a long veil, high heels, and a bouquet of flowers–and blue jammies to change into. (Where do some girls get this wedding thing? I got married in an above-the-knee sundress purchased from a head shop, socks and buckle shoes, and a hair ribbon grabbed off one of the wedding gifts. Rico and Jaja look at our photos and chide their dad for not wearing a tie at his own wedding.)

Then there’s Rico’s gift request: a motorcycle, with two small dolls/people. The motorcycle is supposed to be green, and really roll, and have handlebars, and 2 exhaust pipes. And the people? One is a boy with brown skin wearing a green motorcycle outfit and a mohawk hairstyle; the other is a girl with tan skin wearing a purple motorcycle outfit and short hair (or long hair or a mohawk–it keeps changing). Both people are supposed to have (1) helmets, (2) motorcycle boots, and (3) elbow and knee pads–and all the clothes are supposed to be able to come off because . . . The two people also need jammies (green for the boy and purple for the girl). At this point I stopped him. “I’ll make up the rest,” I said.

Did I mention that these are gifts my husband and I are making? I have Teri and Gretel’s dolls done. (The second one was a lot faster.) The kids and I went downtown today and bought a shirt almost exactly the same color as Jaja’s skin. (She wanted a doll the same color as her. Let me tell you–after weeks of looking–medium brown tones are hard to find and to match.) So Jaja’s doll with the ‘bride’ outfit is next. Then I’ll get to work on the two little wire frame motorcycle riders. All that leaves is the motorcycle itself, somehow created from bits of wood and wire and fabric. I have a few more days.

 

** The two dolls pictured here are Waldorf-style, made from cotton knit fabric and wool yarn hair, stuffed full of wool we carded from a friend’s sheep, with a little bit of sand in their bums for weight. I used a book and internet directions for the making the heads, and made my own pattern for the bodies from a doll I like online. Their clothes I sewed from old baby clothes.