You can tell we’re getting toward the end of the week when I start titling things “stuff.”  I like to think it’s because we’re all getting comfortable with each other.  It’s Friday.  Take your shoes off, let your hair down, lose all sense of verbal creativity you ever had…

Since this little list is called “Home for Christmas,” it only makes sense to feature some seasonal items.

I love the addition of African paper beads to this ornament.  I think one of these ornaments from Embracing the Least of These would give any Christmas tree a global feel.

As someone who likes to pretend she’s a writer, I can totally appreciate this adoptive mother’s use of her writing talents to raise money to bring her baby home.  This Advent book promises activities to help you include the entire family and to grow in your understanding of the Gospel of Christmas.

Speaking of Advent, I love the idea of this Advent calendar.  Africa Bound Andrews made 24 handmade paper envelopes that include 24 different prayers for each day of advent.  My kids would totally get into opening an envelope each day.  Although the magnetic calendars on the pizza pans are perfectly adorable, too.

Moving onto stuff that is totally out of my league, let’s talk about Art…

These custom-made canvases by Custom Art for Our Cause intrigue me.  I especially love the one on the left with the tree.

These custom canvases make my heart feel warm and make my eyes wander all over the house, imagining walls for them.  And this one?

Goose bumps, y’all.  Go get some here.

My friend Allison is adopting from Ethiopia.  And she’s a photography genius.  She’s selling art prints to help bring their little Micah home.  I want to give these chickens to my brother, the chicken farmer.  We could put a sign over them that said, “DINNER.”

I love the idea of coming up with an “In This Home” paragraph for the Vitafam.  But I’d probably end up putting the words “poop” and “underwear” in there and it’d lose all of it’s classiness.  Go get yours here and help bring a baby home from Ethiopia.  And keep it classy!

Well, we did it!  We made it through the list!  Like I said before, I barely shared a third of all the fantastic items that are on the Master List so make sure you click over.  You can also grab the button html at the bottom of the list so we can spread the word.  And if you want to re-visit all of the featured items, check out the Home for Christmas category in the sidebar.

I’d love to hear from you if you’ve found the perfect gift for someone or if you’ve found somebody to support. Thanks for hanging with me, guys.  Now go get shopping.  We’ve got a lot of babies to bring home…

This might be my favorite category because it isn’t really a category.  It’s a Whole Heap of Random.  Which I always adore.

This is an entire alphabet of magnets.  You can order these funky photographs from Love Letters 2 Ethiopia as magnets or as thank you cards.  I think this is brilliant.  And I want some.

Cheeky Maiden Soap is very near and dear to our hearts.  Not only do we think their soap is the yummiest, most natural, non-drying soap we’ve ever used, but the Cheeky Maiden donates her soap to be used in our very own HopeSuds.  This is the absolute ONLY soap we use around here.  Can’t recommend highly enough.  And the Maiden doesn’t just stop at donating to HopeSuds.  For any purchases made in the month of November, she’ll donate 20% to the Alabama Baptist Children’s Home.  Buy for everyone on your list.  You’ll all smell fantastic, and you’ll feel even better knowing your money has been well spent.

Little Bird Creations makes adorable coffee cuffs and snazzy pincushion rings.  I don’t sew really, but I’d wear one of these rings just for kicks.  And maybe somebody would THINK I was crafty.

I purchased a journal from Vintage Street Simple and I liked it so much, I’ve been making my own journals from old books ever since.  This is a nifty gift for the book aficionado or the writer in the family.

If you’d like to listen to samples of Bring Home Beautiful, visit here. I got to listen to a sneak peek last week and enjoyed it thoroughly.  It’s possible I cried.  The focus is just not on the adoption of a child, but the adoption that the Church has experienced.  Plus, the tunes are pretty catchy.  This CD is for everybody.  Trust me.

Every single bag for sale on this site makes me covetous.  That is all.

You all didn’t think I’d pass up an opportunity for a shameless plug, did you?  The Vitafam makes all-natural laundry detergent to sell with all proceeds going to fund our adoption and, hopefully, the adoptions of other families.  The detergent is HE safe, free from nasty chemicals, and Large Family Approved.  This would make great office gifts.  Throw in a bag of coffee from Just Love Coffee and you’ve got the perfect orphan care gift basket.  Beats a fruit basket any ol’ day.

As always, there’s more where these came from.  Go check out the full list for canvas totes, wine charms, Longaberger baskets, candles… a veritable smorgasbord of Orphan Care Goodies.

If you’d like a little back story and some navel-gazing about Home for Christmas, go check out my post at Christmas
Change.

Now, how about we talk about the kids?

These fuzzy letters make ME feel all warm and fuzzy inside.  As the mother of a highly kinesthetic little boy, I’d love to have the entire alphabet so he can feel and mush his way into learning his letters.  Go get your felt letters at The Smiling Heart.

I’m waiting for a picture of our new little girl before I order one of these.  But I DON’T have to wait to order some lkd Kids legwarmers, funny t-shirts, or other hilarious stuffed creatures.   This shop is a must-see.  And while you’re there, would one of you figure out which ethnicity has pink hair????

Even though I have five kids, when a new baby is on the way, I like to collect just a few pretties of those every-day items so I can say I actually bought something “new” for each child.  Buying those pretties from the Galindos means that 100% of the proceeds go to helping orphans.  That’s a pretty perfect solution!

If you’re on the hunt for safe, non-plastic toys, Malot’s Hope is a good place to start.  And when you click on the site, make sure you check out the personalized super hero capes you can have made for all the little super heroes in your life.

I hear these banners are all the rage right now among all the Good Mommies.  This one?  I find precious.  Maybe there’s hope for me yet…  Be a Good Mommy yourself and go check out Crafty Mommy’s other banners and rag dolls.

My kids love to color.  I can’t keep crayons in this place and no tushy is safe from danger of colored pencils in every chair in the house.  Little Miss Blanket’s coloring books are drawn by her husband.  They’ve got transportation, dragon, and ocean themed coloring books.  This would buy me a full hour of quiet time some afternoon.  Oh, and like the name says, this site also offers some pretty sweet flannel blankets, too.

There’s more where these came from.  Make sure you check out all the Kids’ shops and other categories at the Master List.  And get your own Home for Christmas button to share down at the very bottom of that page.

Now that everybody’s got sparkles in their eyes from all the Jewelry, let’s move on to clothes and other accessories.  And remember, I can’t feature all of the great sellers here, so make sure you head to the Master List for all your shopping options.

I’m going to risk alienating half of you by admitting that we don’t do the applique shirt thing.  Most of the Southland does, but I just don’t get into it.  I think it’s cute, but such cute-ness is rarely available at the thrift stores, so we abstain.  However, this little turkey shirt and skirt set?  It might just convert me.  Dolka Pots is an excellent site that supports several different families in their adoption journey and makes kids’ clothes that are excellent quality and super cute without being “over the top.”  And that is totally worth paying “retail” prices for.  Go.  Shop now. But leave me a few turkey shirts.  I just might talk Andrew into wearing one for the holidays…

This sweet little number by Lolly’s shop is being sold to raise money for a family’s adoption.  A full 100% of the proceeds will help bring a baby home.  And your little girls will look pretty stinkin’ sassy, too.

These fun shirts from Pink Robot would be so much fun to put on my gang, only I’m afraid the French culture would be unappreciated here in the Deep South.  We’d get a lot of people saying, “Gar-Kon?  Fill?  Fill what?  Gar-who?  What’d y’all name yer kidz again?”

I’m sure that such a thing would never happen to you where you live, though.

My daughter is constantly taking the bows I buy her out of her hair and hiding them in corners all over the house.  Every Sunday is a treasure hunt to try to locate a bow and then we give out bonus points if the bow matches her dress.  But just as soon as I can train her to quit hiding them, I want 800 of these Klippies by Kris for my little ladies.

Accessories aren’t just for the little people.  Magnolya Designs has a whole host of hair thingies for big girls and little girls, plus an assortment of fun and funky magnets, bags, and something called a “Scoodie,” which is a combo scarf/hoodie.  I’d be all over this particular hair clip except we all know even one as bright as this wouldn’t be visible inside the tangled mass that is my hair.

Assuming I had a body-type that allowed for the wearing of belts, this would be my first choice.  I mean, Julia Roberts wore this in her most recent movie.  And if it’s good enough for Julia…  The entire Noonday Collection, sold to help women in various countries earn fair wages and to fund a family’s adoption, would look just perfect sitting in my closet.

There’s more where that came from.  Head over to the Great Big List for more clothing and accessories.  Oh, and if you want to help us spread the word, the html for our Shiny Button is down at the bottom of the Master List page.  Keep scrolling, you’ll find it…

More tomorrow!!!

Welcome to Home for Christmas!!  I’ve collected a list of shops and websites that are selling great gift items to support adoptions and orphan care.  I’ll be featuring different items all week, but if you’re anxious to start shopping, go on ahead and check out the Master List.  I definitely can’t feature everybody, so don’t just settle for what I show you here.  There’s tons more on the List.  Make sure you bookmark it for all your shopping needs.

Now.  Let’s start with the important stuff:  Jewelry.  Or, as we say it around here, “Jewr-rry.”

This little beauty from Adopting Ainsley’s site is probably the first Mommy-necklace I’ve seen that actually has room for the names of each of my kids.  It is at the top of my list when all my children are home safe at last.

To quote a famous under-fed stylist, “I die.”  Wild Poppy Shoppe has a fantastic collection of vintage-inspired (but also hip and quirky) jewelry, brooches, and hairpins.  Swoon.

Stamped jewelry is all the rage right now.  It’s gorgeous, easily customizable, and shiny.  The perfect combo.  SweetTeaShoppe is perfectly in step with the jewelry fads right now, but with the added bonus that every purchase contributes to a family’s adoption costs.  This particular necklace is for all the marathon runners on your Christmas list.  I picked it to feature because it made me laugh out loud.  My necklace would have to read “0.0.  Sit.”

Another current trend seems to be owls.  I haven’t figured this one out yet.  There’s an owl that lives in our backyard that I’d really like to kill around 2 am every morning, but I’m not ready to wear an effigy of him around my neck… yet.  Anyway, JunkPosse has a whole host of options available to you.  There’s jewelry specific to adoption and then there’s… owls.  Proceeds benefit various adoptions and orphan care organizations.  I want one of everything.  Even the owl.

We’ve barely scratched the surface of the List, y’all.  Go check out the rest of the jewelry here.  And remember, a purchase of any of these fine pieces of jewelry will help bring children home to their families, or care for orphans all over the world.  So go crazy…  Buy TWO owls!