Are Homemade Gifts Acceptable?

I am unable to work which means I don’t add to our bank account. My husband is wonderfully understanding, but I still don’t like to spend much money. So, this year, outside the immediate family, I decided to make gifts. Pretty much the whole year I spent whatever time my back allowed knitting and crocheting. I also made some homemade edible treats – like buckeyes (chocolate covered peanut butter balls), candied rats’ brains (sugared pecans) and cookies.

Do others enjoy homemade gifts? I don’t truly know. I hope so. I enjoy putting thought into what I make and give. Here’s some of this year’s gifts.

I made several people (including my daughter Katie and my counselor Rebecca) fingerless gloves and scarves (I already got a request to make another set for Katie’s friend Marlo – they are on the needles now).

I made a several bags (I think homemade bags are so much better to carry groceries in than the plastic store bags).I saw a pattern for a table cover and immediately thought of a special friend so I worked my butt off and that one for months. I like the end result (and based on her reply, I think she did too).

I even made some Christmas decorations including placemats and hanging Santas.

All in all, I think I did good. Maybe it would be fun to go to the mall and spend hundreds of dollars on gifts, but this is what I can afford and I really put my heart, my sole, and my back into each and every gift. In addition to being gifts, making these things was a gift to myself. My counselor and I recently talked about my need for projects and a greater purpose in life. Work used to be my project. But now, my main project is learning to live with pain – and that’s not a project I enjoy. Making things – mostly small items because that’s all my back and shoulder can tolerate (even with extra pain medicine) is good for me. I do hope the special people who received something homemade from me like it as much I as liked making it for them.

And now it’s time to rest …