Christmas gift woes
How many of you out there have ever thought, "you know...this year I'm going to do something so special for my friends and family. I'm going to make them a homemade Christmas gift!" Well, those are the exact words that were heard flowing from my mouth just a little over a month ago. It was a gorgeous day out and I was in a great mood so I started thinking about Christmas and all the joy that comes with it. In my simple-minded state I came across a book of holiday crafts...small enough, nothing to fancy, most basically cute, and some that looked rather simple. And that was my downfall. I purchased said book with the grand idea that I was going to awe the loved ones in my life with my creativity and talent.
I poured over this book for a few days and finally decided on one item that I thought would really make people happy...something so cute that no one could resist its charm. I began to plot my strategy for completing this project: supplies that would be needed, time that would be spent, cost, the list of those who would be blessed to receive said item, etc. I went to the store and purchased all the materials and was so pleased that it was not going to cost much, but would bring so much joy.
Fast forward to the present, December 7th. I started work on this project yesterday (by my calculations plenty of time). After an hour of slaving over a mere 1/10 of ONE gift I felt completely lousy! What happened? Where did I go wrong? Why had I failed at what I thought was a simple task?
After thinking about this problem most of the last night and all of today I came to realize that my problem was I am not a sewer. Never have been. I have made a few pillows by hand (not recommended, by the way) and mended many a shirt, pair of pants, and stuffed animal. I'm a crafty person and I think that other people think of me in that way. This realization made my failure cut even deeper.
So, while I was planning on giving out some FABULOUS homemade presents this year that just isn't going to happen. Not unless I can come up with something simple, fast, fun and cute...and by that I mean NO SEWING!!! ;-)
I poured over this book for a few days and finally decided on one item that I thought would really make people happy...something so cute that no one could resist its charm. I began to plot my strategy for completing this project: supplies that would be needed, time that would be spent, cost, the list of those who would be blessed to receive said item, etc. I went to the store and purchased all the materials and was so pleased that it was not going to cost much, but would bring so much joy.
Fast forward to the present, December 7th. I started work on this project yesterday (by my calculations plenty of time). After an hour of slaving over a mere 1/10 of ONE gift I felt completely lousy! What happened? Where did I go wrong? Why had I failed at what I thought was a simple task?
After thinking about this problem most of the last night and all of today I came to realize that my problem was I am not a sewer. Never have been. I have made a few pillows by hand (not recommended, by the way) and mended many a shirt, pair of pants, and stuffed animal. I'm a crafty person and I think that other people think of me in that way. This realization made my failure cut even deeper.
So, while I was planning on giving out some FABULOUS homemade presents this year that just isn't going to happen. Not unless I can come up with something simple, fast, fun and cute...and by that I mean NO SEWING!!! ;-)
posted by Cari Chase | 7:07 PM
1 Comments:
Sometimes even our best intentions and ideas just don't work out. It takes awhile to learn how much one can do - or wants to do.
This year, I kept it simple. I bought little decorative Ball jars and I glued ribbon around the lid, tied a bow and glued a little button on the center of the bow.
I gave the first away today. It was well recieved. I was going to mark them "Blessings" but... the Holy Spirit took over and I am going to write a note about what could be stored in them - favorites quotes or thoughts, little blessings to remind us of the Good God or even just something as mundane as paper clips.
I hope that you forgive yourself and remember that we don't always understand the fullness of craft projects before we take them on.
Peace and joy, Denise
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