I just finished my series on gifts appropriate for birthmoms from their birthchild or their child’s adoptive parents and am ready to begin talking about gifts that birthmoms can give their child and ways to cope during the stress and emotions of the holidays. To kick of this series, I must share a gift that I give Charlie each year that has now become a tradition.


Each Christmas I give Charlie a few small gifts, one of them being a Christmas ornament. Giving him an ornament each year has become a special tradition between Charlie and I. His ornaments from me hang on the tree each year and then A. puts them in his “Keepsakes from Coley” box until the next Christmas. I plan to continue this ornament tradition for years to come and when he is all grown up and leaves home, he will have years worth of ornaments to put on his own Christmas tree. I also give his sister an ornament of her own each year too.

On Charlie’s first Christmas he was just a couple of months old. His first ornament from me was one of the Hallmark baby ornaments and had a place to write his name, birth date, and birth weight. I didn’t set out with this ornament idea but just happened to be browsing in the Hallmark store right before Christmas and saw this particular ornament and knew I had to buy it. It was so well received by A. and S. that I decided to make it a tradition.

After the store bought baby ornament, I decided to make the ornaments each year. I love to do crafty things so making the ornaments has been really fun. I really like ornaments that hold a picture and then I put a picture of Charlie and I taken sometime through out that year.

In the next few days, I will continue to share more gift ideas, ornament ideas, as well as ways to cope with the holidays, so stay tuned!