Creative Handmade Christmas Gifts

Post by Sharon 

From the mouth's of babes - the meaning of Christmas

When I was a wee tot of 6 and had no $ of my own to buy gifts, I contemplated the situation.

My mother offered to take me out to buy gifts for my siblings.

I thought about it long and hard and told her.

"Mom, God made me an artist. That's His gift to me. I'll use that gift to make my gifts."

I proceeded to make drawings of me and each sibling gong on fun treks into the snowy forest or climbing a tree.

And so it is, every Christmas I think about the gifts God gave me.Some of them were experiences (good and bad), people around me who played roles, skills, talents, intelligence, integrity, heart... I use them daily to the greatest extent possible and then a little bit further because you never want to let the most precious gifts go dishonored and unused.

And I find that when others use their gifts for Christmas gift-giving, they are the best gifts ever.

Here's some gifts that are free or very low cost that utilize the gifts you have - 

Computer skills - offer free services to clear out clutter on the computer, organize, or otherwise help with learning programs or changing hardware.

Sewing/Knitting skills - You could make a pillow cover or a scarf, macrame wall hanging (the new rage from the 70s trend), teach some basics of the skills you have. 

Artist - offer to do a mural, make a painting, create a piece of computer art to cartoonize or make an awesome profile pic, create a logo or banner.

Photography - offer to do family portraits, profile pics, take photo of their home and enlarge and frame, ask relatives for photos of the family member and make a collage.

Caregiving - offer to babysit, parent sit, dog sit, drive to and from hospital for procedure, care during recovery from a surgery, massage, teach yoga, listen and counsel, teach healing arts from herbal tea making to mixing bath bombs.

Strength - offer to wash car, move furniture, paint a room, remove Christmas lights and store, split a cord of wood, clean carport, offer to keep house walkway clear of snow, carry off bulk trash to landfill.

Music - write a song, teach voice or instrument lessons, make a musical score they can use for YouTube videos, make a mix of the best of indie songs that you know are their style.

Cooking - baking, making ready-to-go freezer meals, tea time mix of teas and cookies, invitation to supper, homemade limoncello, lasagna or stuffed shells casserole, deliver homemade pizza with unique toppings, flavored popcorns in canisters.

Gardening - pre-start a tree seedling in a pot to be planted in spring, gather seeds and package for them to plant in new year, houseplant in an unusual pot like a winter boot or coffee pot, flower arrangement, plant hanger.

Rockhound - teach metal detecting, take someone prospecting for gold, wrap some polished stones for necklaces, design a rock stack for the yard.

Car care -  car washing, oil change, tire rotation, fluids/tire air check, cleaning interior, popping out a dent, filling in a scratch. 

Writer - offer to work on resume, write cover letter, update LinkedIn profile, write blog post, edit book they want to self publish, design a flyer, come up with business tagline.

What gifts, experiences, obsessions do you have to work with? Use them!