The Memory Ornament

I sat at the dining room table, surrounded by craft supplies, putting the finishing touches on my mom's Christmas gift—an ornament that opened like a jar and held slips of paper with handwritten memories of the year.

- By SABRA CIANCANELLI, Editor

Every Christmas, our family holds a special gift exchange. Instead of shopping from wish lists, we each tear a picture from a catalog or print something from an online store—an item we'd like that can be handmade. Around Thanksgiving, we gather, put our folded pages into a bowl and pass it around, each of us drawing one.