Christmas is Coming - Time to Start Panicking

Well, actually - not. Let's not have a panicky, last-minute, rushing-around-like-a-chicken-with-it's-head-cut-off holiday season.

Oh, and btw, yeah - they do run around after you, uh, decapitate them. If they happen to land upright. For a surprisingly long time. Rural experience - many years ago. Aren't you glad you asked?

So, with the big holiday season only a month away, wouldn't it be nice to slow it down for real this year, instead of just talking about it? Let's skip the commercialism, and use the season to tell the people around us that we appreciate who they are and what they do the other 11 months of the year.

And one of the most profound ways to do this is to give a handmade gift. Now, I fundamentally believe that the ability to be creative and make things is well within the capability of anyone - especially as the whole phenomenon of buying absolutely everything is fairly recent in our history. And I'm pretty sure that if you are reading this, you are more capable than most, because - well, we are a bead store and making stuff is our "thang." So you are already hooked into the hand-made mindset.

So the key here is not to aim so high that you fail hideously - but to make yourself a series of obtainable goals. Divide your list up by the length of time you will need, and work backwards to know when you have to start. Yeah - I know - when I say it that way - you know it's obvious. But sometimes it just takes someone stating the obvious.

The other thing you are going to do with this year's handmade gifts is you are going to write a nice little note to go with it that explains it. Because a lot of us have lost the habit of giving handmade, the person receiving it may not really understand why you made that choice, so here's the solution -tell them.

Tell them why you choose to make what you did, and why they are getting it, and something about it. Tell them about what is it made of, and perhaps something about the history or how you learned to make it.

Or, if you choose to buy handmade, tell them why you selected that item. "It makes me smile and I hope it does the same for you too." "I noticed ______ and thought you might appreciate/be able to use/get a laugh out of this."

So that way, they understand why you picked what you did. Then they really will get "the thought that counts."

Because life is too short to not appreciate it. It's too short to not appreciate the people around you, and ultimately - all we will have are memories - so let's get out there and make some!