Finally! At long last it’s time to put away the autumnal colors – yes, I’m officially a little sick of orange now – and time to pull out the red and green! It’s time to unabashedly listen to Christmas music while decorating the house and eagerly searching the sky for snowflakes. It’s time to fill the house with the good smells of baking and the magic of secrets.
And it’s time for my annual debate: to make gifts for my mom and my sister Vicki, or to buy them.
The pros of making gifts:
- Making gifts is the perfect excuse to spend the month of December sewing – guilt free.
- Making gifts is economical: I save the gas money that I would otherwise spend driving from store to store looking for the perfect gift and I don’t have to pay for shipping (unless of course I drive around looking for the perfect fabric or find the perfect fabric on-line).
- Making gifts reminds me of how productive I can actually be when I’m not procrastinating.
- Making gifts often helps me come up with new and inspired ideas because I’m creating for someone with different tastes and because I’m so strapped for time that I don’t have time to over-think the process. Me over-think?!?
- While creating, I get to anticipate how my mom and sister will respond to their gifts. Because they are both crafty (and especially nice), their reactions never disappoint.
- Making gifts enhances my Christmas spirit. I would so much rather spend a Saturday in my sewing room creating “wholesome” gifts rather than fighting for a parking spot and elbowing my way through the throngs at Wal Mart, frantically trying to buy the latest electronics at the lowest advertised price, only to discover that they sold out just before I got there. Yes, I went Black Friday shopping this year and I may be a little bitter.
The cons of making gifts:
- Spending the month of December sewing keeps me from doing housework, shopping, wrapping, Christmas cards, etc. – although is this really a con?
- Making gifts tends to take a bit of time.
- It can be a little difficult to give away one of my creations. By the time they are finished, part of me wants to keep them and run out at the last minute on Christmas Eve for gifts (except by then, the only gifts available are flashlights, 5-Hour Energy, and windshield scrapers).
- It occurs to me that my mom and sister might actually be tired of homemade presents and are too kind to tell me that they’d love a nice sweater or a pair of earrings or even some oven mitts.
- I’m always sewing binding on Christmas Eve.
If I’m not mistaken, the pros seem to outnumber the cons. But because I know my mom and sister are among the readers of this blog, I probably shouldn’t disclose my decision. Oh, and Mom and Vicki, if you’d like a new pair of oven mitts for Christmas this year, now would be the time to tell me.