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A Zero-Budget Christmas

1: Making Christmas magical with little money

Our first Christmas was spent in a one-bedroom apartment in married student housing. We took a bit of the money Jeff earned from shoveling the sidewalks for the First Congregational Church of Hamilton and headed to the local Target to buy a $39 plastic Christmas tree.

We decorated it with a box of ornaments Jeff’s mother had saved for him through the years, and the ones I had collected because of my love for Christmas. But the only presents under the tree were the ones relatives sent and the bottle of Diet Coke Jeff secretly bought at CVS and wrapped for me.

For the next four years, that red brick apartment building was home. I had two babies in that time, and we took any jobs we could find to make grad school work: Jeff was a teaching assistant; I was a nanny. He shoveled snow and locked up buildings each night for a church; I cleaned houses.

We bought dented cans from the discounted bin at Stop and Shop, and I faithfully dug through piles at the campus thrift store to find clothes for our growing kids. On the day I made an appointment for WIC, I cried.

Still, I almost always loved the challenge of making our budget stretch to fit our needs. We were careful with our money, and because of that, we had everything we needed—and more.

But on Christmas, my mama-heart broke.

Christmas not in budget

No matter how careful we were to save, Christmas was not in the budget.

That was okay when it was just the two of us, and it was even okay when the children were small enough not to know better. But in the years following seminary, when my husband was still working three jobs and our budget wasn’t much bigger, I struggled through the holidays because I wanted so much to make Christmas special for my kids, and it felt nearly impossible to do so.

One year, we had a budget of $10 a kid. Ten bucks. What could I do with ten bucks? They were old enough to feel the difference between a $10 Christmas and the kind their friends got. They were old enough to have wish lists and expectations.

I had expectations.

I crawled into bed that Christmas Eve after doing everything I could to fill stockings with things I’d collected, feeling like I had failed. Even though I had done my best, I felt guilty, like it was my fault I still couldn’t do better for them. I knew they would be so disappointed, and it made me ache.

But I was wrong. My children were never disappointed. In fact, they displayed the same kind of exuberance and gratitude on Christmas morning as I would have expected from a child who had received far more. To this day, they are thrilled to receive homemade gifts, don’t mind a bit if a gift is second-hand, and rarely have wish-lists longer than one or two very reasonable items.

In those hard years, when I thought I was depriving my kids, they were internalizing some very valuable lessons on materialism, gratitude, and the true joy of Christmas. Looking back, I can honestly say I wouldn’t trade that season for anything.

Even now, we keep Christmas simple. It’s much more of a choice these days than it used to be, but the principle stays the same: we don’t need a lot of money to stay within budget and give thoughtfully this year.

Christmas on a zero-budget

Mamas, if this time of year is hard for you because Christmas is not in the budget, my heart goes out to you. I know how hard the struggle can be to give your kids everything they need—and to still fall short this time of year. I know what it’s like to believe that simplicity is good, and yet to feel guilty and inadequate because your kids have to do without…again.

This short series is for you on how to make a magical Christmas on a (nearly) zero budget. In the next few days, I’ll be posting tons of ideas we have gleaned from our thirteen years of “skinny” Christmases. They are all things you can do to give thoughtfully during this season and still stay within budget.

Be forewarned: This is not a series about spending as little as possible (remember, Scrooge was the bad guy); this is about doing the most with what you have so the people in your life feel your thoughtfulness, and you can enjoy this season with your kids and family without feeling a bit inadequate.

I hope you’ll join us, and as always, if you have questions or comments about this series or anything else, please let me know! My goal is to help you choose the better things this season so you can enjoy your family more…even on a zero budget.

Last Minute Advent Pendant

Cheery Advent pendant

My kids have been asking, “How many days until Christmas?” ever since the stores started hauling out the Christmas stuff.

So pretty much forever.

Now that it’s actually December, I wanted to give them a way to count down the days until Christmas without having to ask me thirty times a day (not that I don’t love that).

We have done Advent calendars in the past: you know, those flimsy little drug store calendars filled with tiny bits of chocolate that fall out on the wrong days and make kids cry. I’ve had stacks of them on top of my fridge every Christmas for the past few years, and I am always so happy to throw them away on Christmas Eve because they no longer look charming and everyone is kinda bitter about the fact that we spent actual money on them.

This year (read: yesterday) I decided I wanted to do something different. With Jeff deploying to Africa just a few weeks after Christmas, these days are precious. In one sense, the countdown to Christmas is also a countdown to his departure.

There is not enough chocolate in the world to make me want to count down to that.

Instead, I wanted to celebrate each day we have together, and each day we count down to the most glorious miracle of Christ’s birth, with a calendar that focuses on the time we have as a family.

Advent pendant garland over what my landlord calls “caramel” colored walls.

I decided to make an Advent pendant banner using Christmas card stock. Now, I thought of this brilliant idea at exactly 2:45 yesterday afternoon, and at exactly 2:45 yesterday afternoon, I realized I did not have Christmas card stock.

Off to Hobby Lobby I went. Except Hobby Lobby is closed on Sunday. Off to Walmart I went! Except Walmart was a bust. Off to Target I went (at this point, I was absolutely not going to be back in five minutes like I had promised). Target had one option for Christmas card stock, and after fighting my way through the crowds of people buying stuffed Olafs, I did not even care what the paper looked like. Christmas card stock: check!

I realized later that I could have used plain paper and it would have worked just fine. Alas.

Creating the pendants is a breeze. Each of my card stock squares was 6×6 inches, so I cut each square in half with my paper cutter (you can also use scissors). That gave me two 3×6 rectangles. I cut the rectangles from the top corners to the bottom center, giving me two triangle pendants from each square of card stock.

24 triangles later, I assembled my banner on a jute string using two dabs of hot glue on each corner of the pendants.

DIY Advent calendar

Viola! My Advent banner was assembled.

Now, your temptation at this point will be to make this more complicated than it needs to be. But mammas, it is December 1^st and you are thinking of making an Advent calendar. The over-achiever Christmas crafty train left way back in October.

We are now in Get ‘Er Done mode.

So, you could add decorations to your pendants. You could. Don’t.

Advent garland

I did add two little buttons on the ends of the jute string while I was waiting for my hot glue gun to heat up, but I gave myself a good talking to when I considered adding little decorations to each pendant. That’s crazy talk right there.

However, I happened to have a scalloped, round paper punch so I did punch out 24 circles for the dates. If you do not have a scalloped paper punch, do not panic. This step is completely optional. You could write the dates directly on the banners, or add bits of ribbon or strips of paper for the dates.

I affixed each date to a pendant using a big glob of hot glue to give dimension to the date circles. Once they dried, I ran my finger under the edge to make sure the date circles popped up a little.

Then, I simply wrote the dates on with gold Sharpie, flipped the banner over, and added a fun Advent activity to the back of each pendant.

Advent ideas

Could not be easier.

A simple, gold-Sharpied clothespin helps us keep track of the days. Just move it over one day as you count down to Christmas.

Advent pendant

Now, if you have trouble thinking of Advent activities, you’re probably trying to get on that over-achiever train again. Stop it. Christmas does not have to be crazy, bigger-than-life, or expensive to be wonderful. In fact, your Advent list can include many of the things you already do during the Christmas season:

*Bake cookies

*Watch The Nutcracker

*Go to the church Christmas program

*Have cocoa and candy canes

*Make a gingerbread house

*Read The Night Before Christmas

*Go caroling

*Make gifts for teachers and friends

*Deliver cookies to neighbors

*Attend a Christmas concert

*Take the Polar Express to look at Christmas lights

*Make snowflakes

*Go ice skating

*Make a Christmas craft

*Read the Christmas story

*Look at pictures of past Christmases

*Sip eggnog around the Christmas tree

*Make homemade marshmallows

*Watch Frosty the Snowman

*Read How the Grinch Stole Christmas

*Volunteer at a local charity

*Play in the snow!

*Reenact the Christmas story

*Draw names and do something nice for another family member

*Open ONE present (this is our activity for the last day of Advent–Christmas Eve!)

You get the idea. The goal is to be intentional about spending time together, doing the things you love to do, creating memories as a family. Each day, have the kids write about the activity on the back of that day’s pendant. After the Christmas season is over, you’ll have a memory to cherish.

And isn’t that better than cheap chocolate? Any day.

Countdown to Christmas

Make an Etched Mirror, Plus a Giveaway!!!

I love old stuff. I love the dusty smell the years leave behind and the memories tucked into things that have lasted long beyond their owners.

I particularly love old mirrors, the kind that have real silver on the backs and bubbles in the glass and hand-glued labels on the wood. I haul them home whenever I can, and my husband gives me that husband look that says he doesn’t appreciate blurry, wrecked mirrors the way I do and he wonders if we don’t already have enough already?

As if.

One of the mirrors I scavenged was from a church garage sale. It was framed with barn boards and the silver was delightfully scratched and it weighed about half as much as me. I lugged it home and when my husband rolled his eyes, I said, “Don’t worry. I’m going to do something with this.”

Which, in point of fact, was not the part that worried him.

My plan was to make an etched mirror. For years, I toyed around with what to do. I even bought supplies to make my own stencil, but I couldn’t quite find the right thing and I was a little afraid I would ruin the mirror (never mind the fact that my husband thought it was too late for that).

So, I was thrilled when I turned on my computer one day and found a link a friend shared to Fruitful Vine Creations. They make gorgeous vinyl wall decals in every shape and size, including the one below.

Micah 6:8 happens to be one of my favorite verses. I even named a child after that book of the Bible. I was in love.

The size of this decal was perfect for my mirror. I knew I could affix the vinyl piece to it and the hardest part of my glass-etching project would be done for me!

Best of all, this particular letter art was being featured that week as the company’s Fruitful Deal. Every week, they offer one vinyl letter design at a deep discount. I scored this design for 50% off!

Once my order arrived, I positioned the vinyl decal on my mirror.

Then, I secured the design with tape on one edge and peeled the back off. This way, I could flip the design back onto the glass. (All the directions are included in the package, and they are super easy to follow, so don’t worry if that part doesn’t make sense. It will when you see their step-by-step tutorial).

I squeegeed the design onto the glass, pushing out air bubbles and making sure the design was stuck on tight. Since I was going to be applying glass etching acid to the top of this vinyl, I wanted to make sure all the edges were sealed.

Once that was done, I carefully pulled the top sheet off. The decal was perfectly positioned underneath.

Now it was time to get to work with the etching.

To etch glass at home, all you need is glass etching goo. This is what I used to do the job. This is the link to the product description on my Amazon affiliate page. But, it’s crazy expensive. I highly recommend using a coupon and getting it at your local craft store if you can. I got mine at Hobby Lobby for 40% off.

Using a paint brush, smear that stuff all over the mirror, right on top of the vinyl, until it is evenly coated.

The product is a little lumpy. Ignore.

The directions on the Armour Etch say to leave the product on for 60 seconds. I tested this with a smaller bottle and that amount of time was not nearly sufficient. Maybe it’s because my mirror is very old and things were made better back in the day. I don’t know. But I had to go back and purchase another bigger bottle and try again.

Bother.

I let it sit for about fifteen minutes, or until I could see the glass was cloudy underneath. Then, I washed off the creme, cleaned the mirror, and let it dry.

You will notice that the glass-etching product did not take evenly. Grrr…I am telling myself that the variations in cloudiness are in keeping with the weathered look of the mirror. I may go back and purchase another jar of Armour Etch if I decide not to leave my children an inheritance.

You will also notice that the vinyl looks just as good as it did before I applied the acid. In fact, a simple design might be able to be used again.

For me, it was time to remove the vinyl letters and see if the etching worked.

It did!

This particular design from Fruitful Vine Creations is very delicate, so I was a little worried that the acid might get underneath the thin parts. It didn’t. The vinyl stuck tight, just like it was supposed to, and gave me beautiful, crisp lines.

It’s hard to tell because the mirror creates a double image, but the lines are so clean. You can even feel them with your fingers, just like on real etched-glass.

I love the way the Scripture verse looks on the mirror. The light catches the words in different ways at different times, and it is beautiful. Even my husband has to admit that this old mirror isn’t so bad.

Aren’t you all dying to get your hands on some vinyl letter art so you can create your own etched mirror masterpiece???

You are in luck! I contacted Tonya over at Fruitful Vine Creations and told her what amazing readers I have and how much you all would love to shop on her site. She offered to give you all a chance to win a $50 shopping spree from Fruitful Vine Creations! This gift certificate can be used on anything in their store, including shipping! The only exclusions are the My Fruitful Deal decals (which are already a smashing great price, you might just want to sign up for their sale e-mails so you don’t miss any).

To enter, just fill out the Rafflecopter below! I will draw a winner at 6 pm Monday, April 14. Enjoy!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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