The Twelve Days of Christmas

This year we decided to give my parents a different sort of Christmas gift. We put together a 12 Days of Christmas basket for them. It was a lot of fun for me, and I hope they enjoy receiving it as much as I did making it.

I wrote a 'clue' for each day in a loose rendition of the song. I rolled it up and tied it to the top of the basket. I then wrapped each gift and hung a tag on it with the appropriate day to open. The gifts I used were: a poinsettia, a calendar, a book, a Christmas CD, a candle, notecards, homemade candy, a jigsaw puzzle, a restaurant gift card, Christmas tea & coffee, and two different nativities (my mom collects them).

The poem contained clues of celebration for each day. They were: the reason for the season (first & last day), the taste, scents, & sound of the season, the festiveness of the holiday, time together, reaching out to others, inspiration, the gift of time, relaxation, and fun.

I've wanted to do this for years, and now that I've done it, I'm writing down ideas for doing it again for someone. My best friend did it for me a couple of years in a row, and I absolutely loved it. So, you'd better watch out, you never know... you might be the recipient of the Twelve Days of Christmas next year!