Somewhere along the way, we got sick of sweaters and shoes. Don’t get me wrong, I love both, but all of the sudden they seemed so ordinary. So one Thanksgiving, after a few too many drinks, my three sisters and I decided to do a Pinterest Christmas. The rules were simple: 1) we couldn’t buy gifts, only supplies; 2) we had to make the gifts; and 3) we had to make the same (customized) thing for each sister, and an extra one for our mom.
I logged into my Pinterest account, determined to find the perfect idea. The possibilities were quite literally endless. But also, a bit impossible sounding. Granted, I had four weeks, but I also had two toddlers, a full-time job, and a lot of other Christmas shopping and wrapping to do. For some crazy reason, I decided to make each of them the letters HOME. String wrapped around one, flower-filled for the next and foil decoupage for the youngest. My mom would get a different color of whichever one I liked best. I scurried to JoAnn Fabric and bought all the letters and decorations, so excited with my idea.
Fast forward to December 23. I still hadn’t assembled any letters; in fact, they were still in the shopping bag. I figured it would take an hour per set so I could spend the whole day (besides taking care of the kids) working on them. I either grossly miscalculated the amount of time I spend taking care of my children or vastly underestimated the amount of time it would take to decorate these letters. Armed with a bottle of Captain Morgan, a very grumpy husband and I stayed up into the wee hours of the morning finishing the letters. We were exhausted, but they were PERFECT!
Christmas Eve morning was filled with group text teasers between all of us. Amidst the wrapping and cooking and general child-wrangling, it was clearly evident that we were all so excited to give the gifts we had made. Just like the kids couldn’t wait for Santa to come, I couldn’t wait for my sisters to open their gifts!
When we arrived at my parents’ house, the anticipation was palpable. We continued our teasers throughout dinner and we, the four grown girls, begged my parents to open gifts. Finally, the time had come for the exchange. The creator passed out their gifts for the others to open all at once. Each flurry of unwrapping brought squeals, shrieks and pure, unadulterated joy. The last gift I opened with that much excitement was my original Nintendo in 1986.
We continued the Pinterest Christmas for the next three years. It never lost any anticipation or excitement and I bravely extended it into making cute dinosaur tails for all the kids. Now we’ve each got a collection of homemade home décor, jewelry, Christmas decorations and home essentials. But each comes with a fond memory of silliness, excitement, and smiles, which is better than the physical gift itself.
What non-traditional gifts have you given? Do you hand make any of your gifts?
