MAKING GIFTS...
1 Encouraged the talents and skills of each child
2 Encouraged them to think about what each other member of the family might like or appreciate, or use. (Choosing carefully what to make meant precious time and resources were not wasted on something the other person might not even want or enjoy.)
3 Encouraged them to look around to see what resources were available and usable, in the house or garden. (We always had craft equipment and various materials available, and I encouraged my family to recycle and/or upcycle, and to use re-newable resources available at hand from trees, beaches etc.)
4 Encouraged each to consider skills already learnt, or learning new ones.
5 Sometimes encouraged collaborating with others, or at least asking for help.
6 Encouraged them to appreciate the time and effort OTHERS put into the gifts they received.
7 Encouraged using resources for ideas, patterns, instructions etc (before the internet and Google)
8 Was economical (monetarily) if gifts did not need expensive materials.
9 Encourages the crafts-person to spend time thinking of the intended recipient of the gift or card while it is being created.
10 Brings joy when someone shows genuine appreciation of a hand-made gift.
I loved to encourage all the above aspects, and hope that skills etc learned then were useful later in some way.
We did not have a lot of money to go around and i did not consider it not good to encourage people to spend it on gifts, and now that my family have their own families or careers to support.
As a mother of 5 and now as grandmother of 7 I still do not like people spending money on gifts for me.
I am still delighted now that my family have grown, when they take the time to make hand-made or hand-tailored gifts or cards. I NEVER throw away hand-made cards, whether from my children, friends, wider family such as nieces, because of the time put into making them.
Hand tailored gifts are, to me in the same class. Over the years I have received some wonderful Christmas hampers and also gift-bags which i call lucky dips because they have so many interesting things ti find when one dips in. For example, last year i received a gift bag full of craft and stationary materials, - and I always need them - especially when i run the Children's Holiday Program.
Apart from that, my children and their partners have given me such a wide variety of gifts over the year, which i love! A few of which are - hand-painted canvases, crocheted hand-warmers (my daughter taught herself to crochet) , printed family pictures (something they know i always love) in frames or even laminated and in a special pocket of a hand-sewn bag, a floral eternity arrangement (this daughter had done a floral art course).
Sometimes the gifts are things that can not be seen or kept except in the memory, like a gifts of time doing a specific job. Gift vouchers for time spent doing things for the recipient are also something to be treasured. Things like a free car-wash, or window washing, or baking for someone who can not manage it any more. These are things to be treasured, as are vouchers for free hugs, movies, even a computer clean-up (de-fragging etc) or problem resolving for those who can not manage this.
I'm not saying it isn't nice to be bought something occasionally, especially when its from people who's lives are too busy at the moment to make things. I have had some pretty neat bought gifts over the years, but even while i am enjoying them I still get a sneaky feeling that the money would have been better spent on something other than me.
The best gifts still are time and love... however you package them.
And the best love of all was shown to us by God when he sent his son Jesus, and that is ultimately what Christmas is to commemorate. Spare Him a thought too.
Blessings this Christmas
Mother Gosling
Picture borrowed from http://cathiefilian.blogspot.co.nz
