Saturday, December 13, 2014

More ornaments arriving each day!

If you are still waiting for your ornament to arrive, please hang in there! Generally most ornaments will have arrived by the end of this week. Be sure to send us a photo by email or face book when it comes! For those of you not following the swap on our facebook page, here is a gallery of what we have been seeing so far... enjoy!

People have been pouring their heart & soul into these lovely, thoughtful ornaments. Great job, everyone.





















Saturday, December 6, 2014

Ornaments have started arriving for 2014!

Here are a few of the pictures we have received so far of 2014 swap ornaments. 
Great job everyone, they look beautiful!

 
Please remember to only share pictures of the ornament 
you have received, and not the one you made.
We know you must be proud of your creation, but we like to 
leave that decision to ornament recipients 
for the sake of everyone's privacy. 
Thank you! we look forward to seeing more!

Friday, December 5, 2014

Ornaments coming soon!

As we have just passed our shipping deadline, ornaments should be on their way to their recipients! Please be patient, and keep in mind that mailing times vary, and even with the best of intentions, many ornaments make it into the mail a day or two later than planned. If you are behind schedule mailing your ornament, please, reach out to your swap partner and let them know when to expect it -- this is the best way to sidestep confusion and disappointment. You can even feel free to privately share the tracking number of your shipment (if you received one) with your swap partner, especially if it had a late start -- this will help alleviate some of the requests we get to track down packagesIf you find that you are unable to complete your ornament for whatever reason, please email us now, so that we have time to find an alternate solution, and no one is left out. rememberingswaps@gmail.com

Most ornaments will arrive between now and around December 17th, so please do not be alarmed if yours does not arrive right away. When it does arrive, be sure to snap a picture and share it with us via email (address above) , or face book by clicking here. Wishing you a peaceful holiday season!

Saturday, November 15, 2014

Are there any other Australian families out there who would like to participate? You will be matched with another Australian family so your ornament won't have to travel outside the country.

Wednesday, November 12, 2014

4 more days

There are 4 days left until registration closes. Remember if you signed up but haven't replied to the confirmation email, you are not registered for the swap. There were confirmation emails sent out as far back as Nov 5th, that have not been replied to yet. Please check your spam folders just in case.

Tuesday, November 4, 2014

Welcome to the Ornament Swap Holiday 2014 Edition


The Remembering Together Ornament Swap is back for a fifth Holiday season. By participating in the swap, you will receive an ornament with your baby’s name, hand-made with love, from a fellow bereaved mother (or father or family.) You will also make an ornament honoring a lost child to send to another family. Please read this entire post before filling out the sign up form at the end.

A reminder that the “making” process is an important part of the swap. We want all participants to share a part of themselves by creating the ornament they give. There are some suggestions in the FAQ to help start the creative process.

The important dates for this years swap are as follows:
Sign-up deadline - November 16, 6 pm EST
Receiving swap assignments - November 19
Mailing deadline - December 4

The addition of the confirmation email for participants last year did seem to reduce some of the communication issues we had in previous years. However, I still received too many emails from ornament makers explaining how something had just “come up” that prevented them from completing their ornament on time. 

Please think carefully before signing up about whether you have the time and/or financial resources to commit to participating in the swap. As much as you might be disappointed to not participate, another parent who doesn’t receive their ornament will be more disappointed and hurt. 

After organizing this swap for the past 3 years, I can honestly say that the process of tracking down missing ornaments is by far the worst part of the job and can completely eclipse all the good feelings created by seeing the photos of beautiful ornaments being proudly displayed all over the world.

The answers to questions you have about the swap may be found in the Swap FAQ. If not, please send your question via email to rememberingswaps at gmail dot com. and we will do our best to help you.

I am also looking for a volunteer to assist with this year’s swap and take over running the swap in the future. If you are interested in doing this, please contact the swap via FB or by email at rememberingswaps at gmail dot com.

Thank you for reading. We hope you can join us this year and 


 

Monday, November 3, 2014

2014 Ornament Swap

Just a quick note to let everyone know that there will be a 2014 Remembering Together Holiday Ornament Swap and sign ups will start later this week. However I am looking for a volunteer to assist me this year and learn how the swap works so that they can take over running the swap in the future. If you are interested, please send a message to the swap via FB or email rememberingswaps  at gmail dot com.