Everyday Canvas

Gift-Giving around Christmas

Prompt: How do you feel about home-made gifts? Do you make them yourself? Go to craft-fairs? Or do you prefer store bought gifts only?

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I have always appreciated the thoughtfulness that went behind a gift made by a friend. Granted, home-made gifts may not be as smooth and look or work as nicely as the store-bought ones, but they show care and thoughtfulness. Plus, their being cheaper may not always be true, if those who snicker at them think so.

I get a big kick out of the home-made stuff if I know the person giving it to me made it herself or himself. As much as the crafty pieces sold in fairs and other such places are called hand-made or home-made, they are still bought and done by someone else other than the gift-giver. I mean, what's their difference from the store-bought items, except for honoring the crafts and cottage industry?

Certainly not everyone has the time for sitting down and knitting, crocheting, painting, baking, or putting together gifts for numerous people on Christmas, but whether the original gift is a crafty one or store-bought, if it is accompanied by a couple of homemade cookies, a poem or a card specially worded for the receiver, a crocheted pot-holder or something little like that, it becomes so much more meaningful.

There is one thing, however, that gets me a bit annoyed. It is when people think they need to or agreed to "exchange" gifts. Is Christmas a bartering system? Don't we give gifts because we need to show we like and appreciate the other person and the holiday?

Along the same lines, I have heard people say, "I gave her this and that, but she didn't give me anything. I'm taking her off my list." This makes me cringe. It is worse than the frenzied compulsion around Christmas time of buying things nobody wants. Expecting something in return for showing our appreciation of other people? This type of thinking just doesn't have class at all.

As far as the holiday season goes, I think we should tone down the gift section inside our brains and replace it with more meaning. After all, doesn't Christmas have more to do with meaning?