Every fall when the pumpkins and black witch hats come out I start thinking about the holidays. Not Halloween, The Holidays. You know the season where gifts are given, cookies show up everywhere, and regardless of our personal religious affiliations, we all wish for snow.Facebook becomes a relentless stream of "I totally saw Christmas Trees in Target! Can you believe it!?!" "Totally, I saw Santas out over at the mall! WTF, dudes?" Because I don't want stuff thrown at me I don't say, "Of course, the holidays are only TWO MONTHS AWAY!"
I blame it on the theatre. At this point in the season rehearsals for your holiday show are underway, sets are being built, and you already have a work schedule set for the front of house people to come decorate the 80 foot Christmas tree in the lobby. If you don't have your holiday battle plan well drafted by now, you're up fecal creek without so much as a tongue depressor.
Unlike the theatre, at the Suburban Farm the holidays are about one thing, PRESENTS. (Ok, so that's not true, but presents do play a leading role in our holiday planning. The supporting role is played by FOOD.) I love to give presents. Love love love. I'm one of those people who sees something in a store in March and says, "That will be perfect for X for Christmas." I gave my baby sister a set of kitchen shears for her birthday that I bought the day after her birthday the year before. Yes, I am that crazy.
Some how in spite of the small stockpile of perfect gifts this year Ryan and I chose to take the Handmade Pledge. This year we pledge that all our gifts will be handmade (or upcycled). There are several reasons for the pledge. It's better for the environment. We've been finding that life with a baby is more expensive then we thought and we already have gallons of booze in the pantry ready to be drunk. I just rediscovered my Knifty Knitters and I'm obsessed with all the yarn I can buy on eBay. (Even if I can only make scarves.) And then there's Etsy.
Etsy.
It deserves it's own line. Etsy is a GIANT craft bizarre full of all sorts of handmade glories. The site can be a bit overwhelming, so I've bookmarked a few vendors we like: Suburban Farm Favorite Esty Sellers. Keep in mind that our favorites are just microbes on the tips of the icebergs.
For our pledge, handmadeish counts. We do have a small person who takes up a disproportionate quantity of our time, so we may take a few short cuts. But the idea is there. This season we're going to be putting the Suburban Farm stamp on all our gifts, and I'm excited about it.
I blame it on the theatre. At this point in the season rehearsals for your holiday show are underway, sets are being built, and you already have a work schedule set for the front of house people to come decorate the 80 foot Christmas tree in the lobby. If you don't have your holiday battle plan well drafted by now, you're up fecal creek without so much as a tongue depressor.
Unlike the theatre, at the Suburban Farm the holidays are about one thing, PRESENTS. (Ok, so that's not true, but presents do play a leading role in our holiday planning. The supporting role is played by FOOD.) I love to give presents. Love love love. I'm one of those people who sees something in a store in March and says, "That will be perfect for X for Christmas." I gave my baby sister a set of kitchen shears for her birthday that I bought the day after her birthday the year before. Yes, I am that crazy.
Some how in spite of the small stockpile of perfect gifts this year Ryan and I chose to take the Handmade Pledge. This year we pledge that all our gifts will be handmade (or upcycled). There are several reasons for the pledge. It's better for the environment. We've been finding that life with a baby is more expensive then we thought and we already have gallons of booze in the pantry ready to be drunk. I just rediscovered my Knifty Knitters and I'm obsessed with all the yarn I can buy on eBay. (Even if I can only make scarves.) And then there's Etsy.
Etsy.
It deserves it's own line. Etsy is a GIANT craft bizarre full of all sorts of handmade glories. The site can be a bit overwhelming, so I've bookmarked a few vendors we like: Suburban Farm Favorite Esty Sellers. Keep in mind that our favorites are just microbes on the tips of the icebergs.
For our pledge, handmadeish counts. We do have a small person who takes up a disproportionate quantity of our time, so we may take a few short cuts. But the idea is there. This season we're going to be putting the Suburban Farm stamp on all our gifts, and I'm excited about it.