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I am an uninspired gift-giver at the best of times. If I gave you a little purse hand-knitted by my daughter for Christmas last year, odds are that by next Christmas I’ll have forgotten all about it, and you’ll get the same thing again, though perhaps in a different color.


Graduations are doubly hard: what to give, what to give, especially if you haven’t been in daily contact with the graduate since he or she was . . . oh, I don’t know. Born?


So it is with some enthusiasm that I’ve been reading the list of frugal-but-creative graduation gifts at Like Merchant Ships. These gifts aren’t religious themselves, necessarily, but this blog’s mission is. As Meredith puts it:


Like Merchant Ships is a blog about saving money—and doing it with style. Like the Proverbial 31 woman, I don’t mind going the extra mile for my family.


In fact, I consider it a job. Smart shopping—and God’s grace—have enabled me to stay home with 3 kids.

So what a list of frugal-and-practical graduation gifts really speaks to is the larger vision, shared by a lot of us, of figuring out ways to be present for our children on a full-time basis, because that’s what God has called us to do, and still survive financially.


Meanwhile, I’ve been stewing over what to get for a couple of graduates in my life, and now I have a clue.


[Rating: 90/100]

via my favorite blogger, the Deputy Headmistress

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