What are your Simple, Handmade Christmas plans?

A budding twig from a Christmas past.

This is it.
This will be the year.
The year we make the change in how we do Christmas presents.

There; I said it and can't unsay it.  Whew.

We've thought about this before, and talked about it, but THIS year we are not going to run around searching high and low for that thing that would suit somebody perfectly, that doesn't cost too much, that they've always wanted or needed, but don't yet have, that's just the right color and size, that sends the 'right' message, and won't add to the clutter of their life.  That thing doesn't exist.  How many Christmasses will it take to knock that into my head?

In the process of moving to this house, we got rid of things.  I don't want to get more things to replace them.  I have often wished (and other family members have shared this feeling, too) that we could stop buying each other so much stuff.   I mean, actually, we have always been pretty frugal in my family and extended family.   Don't get me wrong.  Nobody goes into credit card debt for the holidays or anything like that.  And gift-giving is not done competitively either, with any kind of spirit of one-up-manship.  Everyone is genuinely generous.  But like so many aspects of life- I don't think we've taken the time to think about it, so it grows slowly into a habit.  Shopping is addictive, and Christmas-time can seem to justify it.  Just like it seems to justify debt or gluttony.

Over here, we want holidays to be simple and pure and meaningful.  Christmas is supposed to be focused on His birth, and gifts are a lovely way to commemorate that Greatest Gift.  But, I wish that corporate giants like Wal**** wouldn't get more bloated because of presents bought for me.  All I want for Christmas is something small and special, made by the hands of a person who is recompensed with joy in the task, or at least a fair wage.  Little tokens that are one-of-a-kind, useful, and human.  That is what I want to give, too: things I've made while thinking of the people who will receive them, that represent time and effort.  Or something purchased from an artisan who really cares about their craft.  Or, even, no gift- but instead a donation to a charity.

There arises a peculiar social conundrum when suddenly changing the way you give at Christmas time.  I begin to worry that my handmade gifts might seem too cheap or boring or small, and that we will be thought of as miserly, as compared to what we have done traditionally, or as compared to what others give to us.  Gifts from others to us this year may be conversely large and storebought and expensive, and everyone might feel awkward.  I will.  They will.  I feel like warning everyone ahead of time, telling them what to expect, so they can spend way less on us, or nothing at all!

Gifts are strange things.  Fear of getting someone something too small, or of getting someone something they won't like, seems to drive a shopping frenzy around the holidays.  If I look closely, I detect hints of pride in myself when I've shopped that way in the past.  Subtly, it becomes about me and how I am perceived, and not about the person I want to give to.

I love Christmas.  I love its sparkle and carols and traditions.  I love its deeper Meaning.  I don't want to do away with it, at all!  On the contrary, I long to see its innocence preserved and its true joys enhanced.

So, I know it's only October, but that's not too early to starting planning a handmade Christmas.  What have you done in the past to make your Christmas gift-giving simple, personal and meaningful?