The Homemade Gift

Decaf instant Folger's,

Muslin,

a little bit of thread,

Crayola crayon's,

hot glue,

a saw,

some do-dad's,

and a touch of watered down white paint.

And Viola!

***

Most of our Christmas decoration's are home made.

Not all made at our home,

but homemade none the less.

A few years back,

I was on an embroidery kick again

and made a bunch o stuff

starting with this Nativity I fell in like with...

I don't remember when it was that I gained my appreciation for homemade things. Must have been from the time I was a little one.

Momma made most everything, and what she didn't Daddy and Grampa did. The Aunt's all did the same. 

A few store bought things would show up now and then, but it wasn't a regular thing, and it really wasn't the big treat that you might think.

The homemade gift holds a lot more than you at first may see when you look at it.

Sure it's purty, an might be useful, might be decorative, an frilly.

But do you see the time that was put into it? Do you see the laughter and fun that might have gone along with the makin? Do you see the love that's oozing from it?

Do you know how much you were thought about while it was being made?

So here's how a homemade gift goes;

First you think of the person you are going to give 'the gift' to. What it's for. Is it Birthday, Christmas, Thank you...or what-have-you.

Next, is one of the hardest parts; What to make.

Once you have that figured out, the battle is half won.

Then you set to work gathering the things you will need to make it. Thinking of the person's favorite color, how the person might use it, where the person might use it, and for how long...and ton's of other stuff.

Now comes the time part. Some things are made that take a lot of time, some times it's hours, or day's, could be month's...and in some cases year's, to finish. And the beauty of that is the fact that you are thinking of the person all the time you are making it!

Once you get your gift finished, you think of the person while you are wrapping it up, boxing it, putting it in a fancy gift bag and filling the top with three sheet's to much of tissue paper just for good measure...you got it...you are thinking about the person.

Then you give the gift, and hope that all the time and love you focused on the person while making the gift, is somehow able to wrap around the person and that every time they look at it they will think of you, and that you loved them enough to make something for them.

But it goes a little farther than that.

How? You might ask.

Well I'll tell you.

You also spend time thinking about the person who made the pattern that you are using. If it wasn't a pattern that you made. And the time they put into making it so that you could understand the how-to's of it all.

Homemade gifts are a circle of love...

Be it from a garden, a sewing room, a 'shop' in the back. From knitting needles to crochet hook's, or tin and some wood. Might be from leather, or 'something whipped up'. Maybe it's quilted or tied, pom-pomed, stitched, painted, or even starts with a key...With no one in  mind more than you!

May God Bless

The Stockings

The story of our Christmas stockings, as I know it...

Most people have Christmas stockings that are red, or green, or red and green. Ours are turquoise, or Peacock blue.

Mom made them a really long time ago.

I asked here once, "Where did you get the idea for the Christmas stockings Mom?"

"From an old 'Woman's Day' or some such magazine, a long time ago. I saw a picture and changed it to be how I wanted them." she said.

"Really? What did you change?"

She thought a second or two then said, "Well the color. I didn't really like red. And the shape of the stocking, and I used Christmas card pictures cut from white felt. Sewed it on and thought, it should look a little bit 'sparkly' some how, so I added sequins and beads."

Every year they hung on the banister, between some big poinsettia spray's she had made, starting at the top and running to the bottom, from oldest to youngest. But Mom and Dad never had one.

Every year we would find an orange in the toe, and peanuts filling the rest.

Then I grew up and was the Mom. Honey didn't really have the same stocking every year, so I thought I could pass on a newish family tradition with them.  I talked to one of my Sister's and she gave me a pattern she had used for her husbands stocking...it was a reindeer... I used it on Honey's, I cut and embroidered and sewed on lots of beads and sequins... 

I made stockings for all three of our kids, and as they grew and had children, I have made stockings for them...no two are the same and I have gotten a little braver over the years and added tassel's and a braided Camel tail to one, and a yarn main to the last one I did...saving up for the purchase of pinking shears was a must, for the edges.

A rick rack hanger has been added over time.

I still use the same old ratty piece of brown paper bag that I made the pattern from my stocking onto, and keep all the fixin's  in a shoe box sized plastic tub, with a few pieces of paper with poorly sketched pictures next to the names of who I have made them for, and have added a few ideas for others.

I love our turquoise Christmas stockings...and I smile every time I see them. I'm glad my Mom changed them to fit her personality, and I'm glad it has been a sort of tradition I can pass on to my family...

As you hang your stockings this year, I hope its with care and memories too.

(c)

May God Bless