building a tinker tent: {carnival of natural mothering}

Welcome to the November 2013 Carnival of Natural Mothering! 

This article is a part of the Carnival of Natural Mothering hosted by GrowingSlower, Every Breath I Take, I Thought I Knew Mama, African Babies Don’t Cry, and Adventures of Captain Destructo. This month’s topic is Incorporating Natural Into the Holidays. Be sure to check out all of the participants’ posts through the links at the bottom of this page.

I recently wrote an article in the holiday edition of Rhythm of the Home about how we are trying to limit the amount of stuff we accumulate, both during the holidays and year-round. I have gotten such great positive feedback from y’all that I decided to share some of what we’re doing gift-wise for the kids this year.

We are trying to get our kids mostly used items for Christmas. Or I should say Santa is giving them used gifts {wink}. Santa is into the Three Rs, and so sometimes his elves don’t make new toys but instead polish and repair old toys. At first I wasn’t crazy about keeping up the Santa myths, particularly when the Elf on a Shelf entered into the picture and complicated the lies. But when I realized Santa could be whoever I wanted, I relaxed and went with it. Besides, I love Polar Express and Elf, so I’m half-way buying into the whole “If you believe, he’s real” magic.

Vivi seems to have grown out of the “I want that!” phase, so she’s an easy girl to shop for. We are getting her a bunch of art supplies (yes, these are new), a used cassette player with tapes that I found at a thrift shop, and supplies for what I’m calling a “tinker tent.” The tinker tent is actually just a basket with rope, some clothes pins, and a bunch of old bed linens from GoodWill. She can create and then dismantle a new tent each time, which builds on her love of fort-making with taking apart my living room every day.

Charlotte wanted a scooter, and I’ve spent the last four months scouring our neighborhood moms, school moms, town listserv, and Craig’s List in search of used scooters without any luck, so we ended up getting her a new one. With knee pads and helmet, we will spend ten times as much on her gift as Vivi’s, but it’s my hope both girls will see how Santa made gifts just especially for them. And lucky for us, neither of them know the value of money yet.

Bloggers, visit GrowingSlower to sign up to be a part of next month’s carnival.