I Am Santa's Elf
Posted at 6:00 AM on November 27, 2009
by Dale Connelly
(15 Comments)
Today is reputed to be the most robust shopping day of the year in the United States - the day after Thanksgiving and the beginning of the Christmas spending season.
The tales of "Black Friday" madness are many and mortifying. The spectacle of adults fighting over children's toys is simply the most commonly expected horror of the day. Parking lot gridlock, in-store overcrowding and short temper meltdowns are merely icing on the cake.
The Trial Balloon community seems to be a rather contrarian group when it comes to this sort of consumer pageantry.
Have you ever tried to go against the grain by producing your own brand of low cost, handmade gifts for Christmas?
If so, what was your most successful effort?
If not, what sort of gift would you make, if you could?
Comments (15)
if black friday tanks it's partly our fault. we've been making homemade gifts (on and off) for 35 years. sometimes out of necessity, sometimes just because we wanted to. this year it will probably be photographs and goats' milk soap, some chevre or cajeta with some wild rice (purchased from a friend who harvested and hand-parched). to our families we suggested donations to heifer international or some other good cause, but that fell by the wayside.
i confess there were some years in there that we loved going downtown mpls on this day before it was called black friday and when there was a Daytons and Donaldsons and the stores opened at 9 a.m.
happy day whatever you are doing. i'm making cajeta flan for tomorrow.
Good Morning Contrarians,
I know that Dale's use of the word, contrarian, was respectful. I'm not too contrary, am I? Well, maybe a little bit.
I did make some Christmas gifts at one time. I can remember a few macrame items and some home made candles. That was in the old days, I'll bet you can guess when.
There are some home made things I have that came from my Grandfather who was good at wood working including a stool and a sewing box. If I had my Grandfather's skill at making things, I might consider making more home made gifts.
well, Jim - i think Dale meant "contrarian" only in the best way. but it's 7:30 and it's pretty quiet on the blog - maybe everyone IS out shopping.... or sleeping in? or just enjoying their morning.
if you gave some of your woodworking projects i bet your family would treasure them the way you treasure your grandfather's - good or not so perfect....
happy day, All
In the 70’s and 80’s we used to make what we thought were useful and distinctive items for a few friends, but I bet they thought of them as kind of weird: 1) cookie-filled small crates with one end shaped and painted in a caricature of their houses, 2) sprout growers, 3) Advent birch log candle sets, 4) birch candle holders decorated with what we found in the woods behind our house, etc. We were not as hippy-like as that all sounds.
Later we learned to give more consumable items, such as sets of hot drink mixes we mixed and packaged ourselves. My wife used to make baskets of mostly home-baked items to put on the doorsteps of people she knew (from working at the town library) were alone on Christmas.
I usually made something of wood for my wife, often carved, mostly Santas. One year it was a Santa with in his hands a bowl in the style of her china, inside of which was a diamond necklace (I did not make that part nor buy it on Black Friday).
Until last year I carved a tree ornament for each of my children and grandchildren. A four- and a six-year-old don’t much care now. Hopefully they will later, but that is their choice. This year it will only be the bride and groom for the wedding cake of my son and future daughter-in-law’s summer wedding. When you do these things, you have to enjoy the making of them and then let them go after that.
Good question for me; I had forgotten
I was begining to think some thing was wrong with the blog operation, Barb. Maybe other Heartlanders are sleeping in this morning.
The contraian of the morning has been the blog technology. I wrote my entry twice; lost the first try in the upload. So wrote it again but in a separate document. After I pasted it in, it was truncated. The last graf is supposed to read, well for the two of you reading and not shopping or sleeping: "Good question for me; I had forgotten much of this. Maybe we were/are more counter-culture than I think, except for that necklace."
Barb: one of my plans never fulfilled was to learn to make mozzarela cheese, not from buffalo milk of course. Never got there. Daunted me.
Barb: had to look up cajeta; I know what flan is. My mother used to make "long milk" or "filibunk," the spelling of which I can only guess at. It's a sort of stringy yogurt that grows on your counter, hopefully only in its jar. Old Swedes used to buy our raw milk to keep their filibunk culture going.
I hope I'm considered contrarian. I've worked hard to become so.
I've been known to gift some of my photo work before but not as much now. With differing tastes in artistic expression, it can be a very big gamble. And, at least among my family, their houses are already set in their decor. Art as a gift tends to become more of a burden, which is something a gift should never be.
When I got married and we started attending my in-laws Christmas I was amazed at the sheer volume of gifts that they gave. And it seemed each year had to out do the previous. And this was nothing homemade; retail excess that would have made Scrooge McDuck happy.
Sounds like this year they may be pulling back a little bit due to economic hard times. Well finally was all I could think. Great people- nothing personal.
My parents, especially the last few years, give hand made gifts usually in the form of returning things we've given them over the years. This year it looks to be photo albums for each individual child composed of pictures they've collected over the years.
Last year it was clothing items and old Christmas ornaments Mom had saved in her hope chest ...
Personally, I kind of mix it up; some home made, some purchased. Mostly, if I would just check off a few things on the 'Honey Do' list my wife would be happy!
I'm not proficient in making things or creating art, but appreciate those who can. I have a wood desk my grandfather made, and a set of four needlepoint pictures my grandmother made that were both used in their house and remind me of them.
The one time I did go out shopping on this day was enough to keep me from repeating.
The IDEA of handmade gifts is very appealing. This year I'm going to encourage my family to go that route. (Them for me, not the other way - I'm lazy.)
Yesterday's sappy description of Thanksgiving anticipation was somewhat overstated, now that it's been lived. There wasn't all that much conversing or erupting of laughter. Four of us had colds and eruptions of coughing were the dominant sounds. I guess diners avoid talking face to face when they're sitting next to a hacker.
Surprisingly, the pecan pie was still consumed, in spite of it's excess brownness. Sweet daughter referred to it as "toasted pecan pie." My son, who gave me the most crap about it, over whipped the cream to the consistency of mashed potatoes, so he finally shut up.
Have a great weekend fellow contrarians!
off topic - sorry - Donna, i guess that's part of the holidays - thinking they'll be better than they actually are. but i envy the openness and teasing atmosphere in your family
Steve just gave me a cartoon that i have to share: Roz Chast on items at the Farmers' Market (among other, expensive things): Paradise View Goat Cheese for $45/piece with the label saying "Our goats are very special to us - they are home schooled, gourmet-fed, and groomed by Olympic athletes. And every night Julio Iglesias himself sings them to sleep." i am not showing this to Dodger. she has the ASPCA on speed dial.
Barb, don't you think that your goat cheese should sell for at least $45 per chunk? Of course, most of us would only buy it for vey special ocaisions at that price, but that might work.
again off topic, this is the last post today but i can't resist talking about goat cheese :-)
Jim - i have never calculated what it costs to produce the 2/3 quart of milk that makes 4 oz of lightly drained chevre (and if i were a good farmer, i would know that). but i try not to underprice it to be fair to those who are trying to make a living with a goat dairy. i'm not licensed, so i don't compete in stores, coops, etc. and we can't sell at farmers markets up here. but i have a good base of customers who will buy from the farm.
Clyde - i've tried making mozzarella several times. it's challenging with goats' milk - the curd is softer and getting it to stretch often depends on where that doe is in her lactation - early or late...it tastes fine, but the texture is a bit off yet... keep trying - and you try it too!! i think you can buy curds (cow's milk) to save the curd-making process. then all you have to do is stretch it.
Ours is a mixed bag -- sometimes I sew something like nightshirts or doll clothes, and we made tie die t-shirts one year, I remember, and candles another. And we've pooled our money to give to a friend's son who almost lost his house to Katrina years back. I often give consumables like pear chutney, etc. I love getting homemade gifts like birck candle holders... :)
Dale, thanks so much for the songs for my nephew Evan - I managed to almost burn the rice while we were listening... we had our T'g a day late, and I'm going to bed now.
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