 Part of the Southern tradition has always been doing more with less. We don’t sacrifice class, grace or beauty just because our cash flow is low. With Christmas rapidly approaching, here’s a collection of last minute gift ideas that can get you a baronial feel at dirt floor prices. Bookmark this post for birthdays and anniversaries too! Let’s first define some general aesthetics…
Pictures shown are for examples only. If you track down these specific items I don’t know that you can get them shipped before Christmas. Get out to your local shops and hopefully buy directly from them. JEWELRY Pearl earrings (start at ~ $100) Gold lockets (~ $100) Vintage watches, chains and such can be picked up at antique/vintage stores for less than you might find new. These are not “used." These are HEIRLOOM.   VINTAGE JEWELRY BOX (In the South we pronounce that “jury box.”)  CLOTHING For Her: Eyelet lace, real linen, silk or cotton. Fresh themes with pastel colors and fruit. For Him: Wool tie, real leather belt, family tartans, cashmere scarf.    REAL BONE CHINA Real China, even just a few pieces, is a timeless, elevated gift. Did you know most patterns have backstories and themes? You can pick a theme based on their ethnic heritage, where they honeymooned, their family name, etc. You can add to their collection by buying new pieces every year.   FOR KIDS Real leather shoes A hardcover Christian kids book with Grund stuffed animal theme High IQ board games Real art supplies     ART Buy a vintage postcard or picture that relates to them. Some of my favorites to look for are the church where they or a family member were baptized, married or buried. A church with their name or patron Saint. Frame it. Gift it.  QUALITY COOKWARE Some of my favorites are Salad Master pots and pans and enamel tea pots. Cast iron is also a great choice.   FRIENDS AND NEIGHBORS Some of my favorite picks are real butter shortbread cookies and organic teas.  VINTAGE OR FIRST EDITION BOOKS These pictured are soft cover but buy hardcover when available.  CHILDHOOD TOYS One summer I asked everyone in my life what their favorite childhood toy was and I bought them all a gift on that theme. For example, my brother-in-law said “Super Mario Brothers” so I bought him handmade SMB coasters from Etsy. This also works for favorite childhood TV shows or movie.  LAMPS A good gift idea for men but also women is an antique brass desk lamp. Add an amber bulb for the perfect touch. These are super affordable too.   FAMILY HISTORY Use a service like Family Search or Ancestry. You’ll need to know their parents names and rough idea of birth date and place but if you put in a few hours you can find an interesting ancestor of theirs and maybe even snag a picture. Type up the story & frame it.  YEARBOOKS If you can find out when and where their parents or grandparents went to school you might find their yearbook on eBay! I did this for my father one year.  COATS For her: thrift shop wool coat For him: vintage military coat from Europe Both of these coats pictured retail for $2 used!   Remember it isn’t “used” - it’s HEIRLOOM. 😉 And write that on the card! “Enjoy this heirloom such-n-such, and Merry Christmas!”
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 The only way forward is small. Those words might seem an odd contradiction in a world that seems to be growing ever larger. The Internet sprawls across the globe connecting tiny villages in rural India to mighty skyscrapers in New York City and everywhere in between. Populations are bursting at the seams. Homes are larger. Big box stores loom and crowd out mom-and-pop shops in the world we know. Corporations like Black Rock gobble up the globe with increasing speed, and it seems we are on a lightening-fast path to bigger, bigger, bigger - one huge united globe. One large undefinable mass. Our news has expanded too. Gone are the days when you would sip your coffee over a few local articles in the newspaper. We hardly even gossip about our neighbours anymore. Now we check our social media and become delighted or outraged at things happening all across the globe. But all of this is ultimately an illusion. It’s a modern day Tower of Babel with classic Tower of Babel results. When Louis and Clark explored the West they would often have to pass through five or more translators to reach an Indian who spoke French and then a Frenchman who spoke English. Anyone who has been to Walmart lately can relate to this. No one speaks the same language. Yet unlike those Indian tribes Louis and Clark encountered, who were totally independent and interacted with other tribes mostly for either trade or war, we must somehow navigate this huge confederation of countries living in our backyard and on our tiny screens daily. Suddenly, election results in New York don’t feel so far away. If China manufactures all our antibiotics, I suppose we are forced to care about what’s happening in China. It’s all connected. We are living in the Tower. We are consumed by it. But the Tower of Babel didn’t last and neither will its current incarnation - because no matter how advanced humans become, we simply cannot out-pace God. The Tower will come down. The answer to the question of when or how or where is a mystery to us, but its ultimate collapse is assured. Terrific! We didn’t want it anyway. In fact, I hear you ask, "Can I do anything to give that collapsing devil-tower a push?" Yes. Simply remember who you are. Remember who God created you to be. He created you to be part of a family. “Nation” comes from the root “natal” meaning to give birth. Many of us don’t feel like birth-buddies with a Somali living in Minnesota or a Sikh living in London. We don’t share common values, histories or future goals. "But my family is awful!" I hear some of you say. "I have nothing in common with them either. They don’t share my values, history or goals. I hardly see them." Sadly, in the Tower where everyone speaks a different language, this is the reality we confront. The consuming mass of chaos resides in our own flesh and blood. So where is your family of common values? Your nation? May I propose it is to be found in your parish or church. Long ago in the Southern United States, we had things called plantations. They functioned like small, self-sufficient towns. The owner and his family lived in the main house. Workers (yes, and slaves) had their own homes and small communities dotted around the acreage. The plantation grew its own food, produced its own wool and cotton for clothing, typically had a cash crop and yes, it had a parish. Everyone would gather on Sunday mornings. Perhaps several nearby plantations would share a central parish. A priest, reverend or preacher would be hired for the parish or perhaps would travel among several parishes in the area. People attending these churches knew exactly who they were and what they were working towards. They weren’t just Americans, they were, for example, Virginians or even more specifically residents of the King plantation, and naturally, the parish found there. For generations they lived like this. They had a common language, a common history, a shared faith and they shared goals for the future. Perhaps their goals were expanding the cash crop, patching the roofs or opening up more space in the graveyard. This identity and total independence from the outside world was a way of life these people were willing to die for when the North infringed on it. The Confederates were famously outnumbered by the North but never out-fought. Behind the Confederate army lay their homes, their family and their parish. "Okay, but we don’t have plantations anymore," you say. Yes, but we have parishes. We have people we see every week who share our history, our language and our goals. This is where our family is and our focus should be there too. And I don’t mean exclusively our spiritual focus. Our friendships, business endeavours, hiring pool, trade center, and so forth, should exist within the hundred or so people we know in our parish. |
