To help make Christmas wish lists even lovelier, the girls and I were invited to play with some gorgeous items from Acorn Toy Shop. We hope these gifts inspire a simple and beautiful Christmas in your homes too. My ideas have changed over the years about what makes a good christmas and from the bottom of my heart, it counts to me that I give presents that help others live a good life too. I really have to think outside of myself and contemplate what the things I buy support. Simultaneous of this I want to instill values and ensure meaningful experiences of possessions for my children. While this might sound like a weighty ideal, it really is not, it is just about being connected and knowing where to look, it is about being worldly-wise and having some common sense and about finding how you can personally achieve that feeling of abundance we individually strive for in the best possible way. Gift giving should be about fun and joy, but as educated privilege adults, we know that really our choices have to be about more than that in this day and age, because otherwise something is missing!

Feel good gifts, as I call them, are really so simple to find once you are on the path and headed in the right direction. As long as a purchase has at least one of the qualities listed below it fits into my own personal feel good parameters.

Practical – useful for life and skills, binoculars, pocket knife, sewing scissors, art supplies etc.
Ethical – company gives to charity or produced with the impact of the environment in mind.
Biodegradable – all materials used decompose and can go back into the earth for the greater good.
Handmade – has spirit and soul in it and contributes to a gentle existence.
Vintage – recycling, reusing, adding value, life and love to objects that already exist.

More and more I am grateful to Acorn for curating a fine collection of clothes, toys and books that make gift giving what it should be, a beautiful experience for everyone. If I could magically transport you all so that you could Christmas shop at Acorn in person I would. This little store in Brooklyn is currently packed to the brim with handmade artisan treasures to make any and every child (and adult) happy. When you enter you will be warmly greeted by a friend, and your children will instantly feel welcome to explore. You will want to look and look and look because it is a bit like a rainforest in the lushness of it all. Treasures from the ground on up, until you reach a canopy of marvelous mobiles overhead. En masse it draws you in and as I have said in a previous Acorn post, the feeling of all of this thoughtful and creative handiwork in one place makes you feel wonderfully blessed. An excitement and sentimentality for childhood will be present and you will be so glad to have little people to buy for. It is as you would imagine an old fashioned toy shop to be when everything was made with effort and skill, but it is fresh and current and ever so hip. And once again, I wish I could take you there myself, and perhaps one day that could happen or perhaps you live near by Acorn, but for now some of you may just have to settle for shopping on-line. Not quite the same I know, because much of the stock never makes it to the website because at Christmas things are a bustle… but if you happen to see something in these images and you can not find it on-line, you can always phone Acorn and speak with them, they will happily assist.

When the children wake in the dimness of dawn on Christmas day, as the sun is rising and the light comes in, I want my children’s dreams to come true, and want to feel good about the gifts under our tree. We hope you join us and make an Acorn Toy Shop wish list too and fill little stockings with gifts that truly could be made by Santa’s elves!

Much thanks to Acorn for letting us enjoy these beautiful things and the wonderful designers who make them!

Chalkboard Drawing Tablet

The Girls are wearing a variety of clothing brands stocked at Acorn – Mabo, Soor Ploom, Misha & Puff, Oeuf, Red Creek Handmade, Cabbage & Kings, Manimal, Little Lief