By Skylar Boggs ’18, Contributor

As the Christmas season approaches, many of us enjoy the putting up of Christmas trees, wreaths, lights, etc. The people that already completed all of those tasks the day after Halloween of course have already began to wonder what in the world they are going to do about Christmas Party gifts to friends and loved ones. There are multiple gift ideas that contain small items that come from the heart, and big items that can easily burn a hole in your wallet if you are not careful. My personal favorite involves a mason jar and some paint. Christmas is just a few days before the start of a new year, and personally, the yearlong commitments that many of us try and fail to complete can bring funny stories and laughter throughout the year to follow. The mason jar is used as a container to collect little slips of paper that the receiver of the gift will write on. It is used as a scrapbook of sorts. When giving this gift you can use different paints to decorate the jars in different ways, but they will be used for the same thing. A time capsule of sorts, you take a slip of paper every day or multiple and write down a good memory of something that happened to you. As the year goes on your jar will become completely full. At the end of the year you empty the contents and read, literally, what happened throughout the past year. Other simple ideas include gift cards, candy, teddy bears, money, etc. Another good gift idea is to take a plain glass ornament, paint the year number on it, and tell a story with a simple picture. Many families gather on Christmas to get ready for the New Year and rejoice with one another about how happy they are that the year that has passed was so wondrous. Cataloguing your year and obtaining pictures as the months pass by from all of your family members should amount to a large amount of photographs that you can use to create a homemade video that will simply bring tears to everyone’s eyes. Many of you students have siblings who are at that age in their childhood where every Barbie doll and stuffed animal prove to be a worthy gift to receive on any day, especially Christmas. An unbeknownst gift to your siblings is “Elf on the Shelf,” which is when an adult buys an elf and Santa “convinces” it throughout the night into conceiving mischievous acts and messing with little toys and trinkets around your home. Nothing excites sugar-filled children more than Santa Claus only a few weeks before Christmas. My final gift idea for all of you is the “gift that keeps on giving,” love. Throughout the holiday season, the best gift you can give is to love and support your family through the laughter and tears that this season and New Year can bring.

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