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A Handmade Christmas.

What does that mean to you?  To me it means handcrafted ornaments, personalized gifts, and lots of extra love.

I always have a grand plan to create personalized pieces for each family member, but something always gets in the way, maybe time or money or even the thought that my work isn’t good enough.

This year, I have a game plan.   If you’d like to create your own handmade Christmas, you’re welcome to follow along with me.

Let’s get started!

Let’s start with a few questions:  Why? Who? What? How? When?

1. Why?  Why are you giving gifts?  Why this list of people?  Why DIY?
2. Who do you need to gift to this upcoming Holiday season?  Family? Friends? Teachers? Your hairdresser?
3. What do you want to gift?  Will everyone get gifts created around a theme?
4. How are you going to craft these gifts?  What is your favorite hobby?  Do you love to sew?  Would you rather bake?  Is glitter more your style?  Do you want to learn a new skill or try something new?
5. When are you going to do all this?  What kind of time do you have between now and Christmas (be honest)?

I’m taking the next few weeks and answering these questions myself.  I won’t answer all of them publicly because I do want my Christmas gifts to be surprises.   But, that “Why?” question:

Why am I giving gifts?

I know that for many people it seems super-early to be discussing Christmas gifts.  And it is, unless you are planning on creating them yourself.  But before I dedicate all this time and effort to creating gifts, let me tell you why I do it.

I give gifts at Christmas out of tradition.  We follow this tradition because it’s an opportunity to show my family and friends that I love them with a tangible item.  My kids don’t get lots of extras throughout the year.  It’s fun to spoil them with something significant at Christmas as a tangible way to say “I love you.”  They get a few small things (books, pjs, cds, new goggles or swim caps, art supplies, etc.) from Santa and then 3 gifts from us.  Usually these 3 things are a store-bought biggie (budget $75-100), something Mom-made, and a gift that the whole family will love (video or board games or movies).

I show love at Christmas because that’s what Christmas is all about.   I believe Christmas is the date we have selected to celebrate the earthly birthday of Jesus Christ.  The act of Jesus coming to earth as a humble human baby was an act of love as part of God’s ultimate plan for us.  You can read more about that here.  What better way to celebrate than to show love to my family and friends!

LOOK FOR FUTURE HANDMADE CHRISTMAS POSTS about making time to craft, the true cost of handmade, wrapping and presentation inspiration, and ideas for dads, teens, the family chef, the diva, the boy, the doggie Momma and more!

There are links in this post.  Some link back to this blog.  Some link to things I love and just want to share.  Some link to referrals for which I am compensated.  For more info, please check out my Shipping Links and Disclosure Statement.