Fell in Love with a Pearl

The year of 2020 has been pretty rough on my little family like many other families in US. My husband and I are both very driven in our professions but have always limited that drive to make sure our 6 children always have ample attention from us individually and as a family. Unfortunately, as I am a business owner of a small marketing firm, I have found myself having to put in a ton more hours working for a fraction of my usual hour rates which has put a dent in my family time. For the last couple months I have really made an effort to think of crafts, art projects, and kid friendly cooking methods to maximize what little time I have to give right now.

Now lets talk about how all of this relates to the holidays. I'll preface what I'm about to say with the background information that I am not very traditional when it comes to Christmas anyway. I have always felt Christmas is too commercialized for my liking and to me the holiday season is about family unity and not stuff. I also am not a fan of the concept of Santa Claus. I don't want to encourage my children to sit on a strange mans lap, the song "Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town" sounds like a stalkers anthem to me and I find it highly annoying that the guy can't use the front door and wants to drink all my milk and eat my cookies. My children's grandparents take joy in the Santa Claus part with the kids so I leave it be with healthy boundaries. I don't ever want to take away someone's Christmas joy most importantly.

Every Christmas season my kids get on shopping websites and save a wish list of things they want. Typically, I'll end up ordering each child things they want with the limit of about $200 per toddler/baby and about $300 for the teenagers and the kids always end up with their gifts well before Christmas day. I cap grandparent gifts near $50. This year is different, I have a cap of about $600 for kids and grandparents. I got to thinking out loud with my 7 year old daughter who honestly gets equally excited about getting cool stuff as she does giving a gift that's thoughtful. Together we came up with an idea that has us both very excited!

A few years ago a good friend of mine was hosting live "Pearl Parties" on social media. There was a catalog with jewelry settings that fit a pearl (or even 2 or 3) after purchasing your setting my friend would have the purchaser pick out an oyster from a big bowl she had. The most satisfying part of the whole experience was watching in anticipation as the oyster chosen was opened to reveal a beautiful pearl. I ended up with a few white ones, a peach one, a pink one, a chocolate one and my absolute favorite a black pearl. When my daughter told me she wanted a jewelry making kit for Christmas this year pearls were my immediate thought.

After about an hour of research, brainstorming and watching some interesting videos we found on the internet we had our ultimate gift turned regift plan made and all necessary items ordered to carry out this plan, we also got my 4 year old daughter in on this plan so the girls could combine their Christmas money together to get extras. Now we've ordered a 50 piece set of Akoya Oysters containing pearls (10 possible colors, $49), an oyster shucking knife with a shield ($15), box of 100 ct. vinyl gloves ($15), a 30 piece set of different pearl cage pendants ($19), and a 40 pack of necklace chains for the pendants ($16). The girls are going to pick a pendant and chain for themselves and open the majority of their oysters and pick out which pearls they want. The remaining unopened oysters are going to be used in the gift bags they're putting together for the women in their life. Each gift bag will contain a pendant with a chain and an oyster. The girls are going to write out instructions on what to do with the oyster to get the pearl out, cleaned and into the necklace. If the receiver wants the girls to assist them with the activity (when safe to do so) they'll have listed on the instructions just how many hugs and kisses it will cost that person.

What I love so much about this oyster activity is that it represents everything I want my kids to feel about the holidays. Doing things together as a family is my favorite thing in the world every day of the year anyway. The fact my girls want to take the gift they chose for themselves for Christmas and ask their siblings to participate in the fun and use it as a way to make thoughtful gifts that also promote more family activities makes me feel like a proud parent. There are a lot of different things this same concept could apply to, the possibilities are endless.

Worldwide pandemic aside, Christmas to me is about spending time together and celebrating the people surrounding my family. This year especially, my heart is with everyone struggling in this hard time.