Our Retirement Days: Handcrafted Christmas Gifts

Friday 29 November 2013

Handcrafted Christmas Gifts

Joy of Making Gifts

“It’s not how much we give but how much love we put into giving” Mother Teresa

Handmade gifts create hours of joy and fun and that is before they become gifts for others to enjoy.

Emily and Ruth had a great time making their personal Sock Star Critters featured on September 26, 2013.

While shopping at Walmart in October the girls saw these funky and fun socks and asked if we could make Sock Star Critters for their cousins. Their parents for the past few Christmas’ have been making handmade gifts for family and friends. This year the girls wanted to do the same.

Creating a gift for another person is an intimate process. Through the creative process you come to understand the person you are giving the gift to at a deeper level and you give a piece of yourself. These same skills are not required when purchasing a gift off a wish list.

Through deciding who would get which pattern the girls were practicing and building their relationship skills.

Cooperation as they talked about their cousins and agreed on who would get what pattern.
Empathy/ an understanding of their cousins as they talked about why this person would like blue strips or red dots.
Camaraderie as they sat side by side stuffing their critters, talking, laughing and fooling around. (I had to work hard and not interfere in this by telling them to stop fooling around)

The girls also exercised and practiced their sewing and creative skills.

Having already made a Sock Critter they understood how a longer cut in one place made a short body and long legs and another made a long face and short ears. Both girls took time to decide what they wanted their Critter to look like.
They understood how stuffing changes the look, feel and personality of the Sock Critter. I was impressed with the dedication that they demonstrated in making their gifts.

I personally dislike store purchased Christmas wrapping paper. So to keep with the handmade theme we purchased plain brown shipping paper and the girls made their own wrapping paper.