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Friday, December 21, 2007

I like you and this is how I show it.


At the holidays I like to defy natural law by finding time to craft/bake/wrap/deliver gifts to my coworkers. It adds to the illusion that I have A Life Outside of Work, which I enjoy perpetuating since it is a much rumored fantasy that a lot of us harbor, here so close to the grindstone.

But I'm always self-conscious when giving handcrafted gifts. Because while *I* may be handmaking gifts because I feel like that is a way to show how much I like you, *you* maybe think I'm being cheap or that the gift is ugly/useless.

Then there's this other issue I have: waste. I hate waste. Which, obviously, is a problem around the holidays when stores are giving away jumbo rolls of wrapping paper or dropping tiny purchases into huge handled paper bags so that you can SOMEHOW make it out to your car four feet away with all your so heavy two chapsticks or whatever.

Oh the filthy conflict.

And when I started thinking about what handcrafty thing I would make for gifts I also didn't want to be making something that would get shoved in a drawer/closet/attic/goodwill bag - because that is also waste and I will.not.have.it.

In the end, after all my wavering, I ended up on scarves. Double sided fleece scarves with the handy pull through slot so that you can really cinch that bitch down around your neck in the cold winter times. Good for walking the dog in the cold weather, good for wearing into the office, good to have in the car for a chilly trip out to get more booze (because you realize you just ran out, not because you're already hammered and need more. I do not condone the drunk driving, ok.)

Oh, and even better, roll the scarves up with some ribbon (I'll admit, I bought this. Do not worry, I will use it all. FORGIVE!) and a recycled gift card tag. No paper necessary. No tape necessary. No horrible crippling what-kind-of-a-consumer-asshole-am-I-anyway guilt afterward. Oh yes, this will work.

Thankfully, I found some nice fleece at The Store Which Shall Not Be Named Because The People That Work There Are Assholes and also got some sweet looking cards this year from nice people who have my home address which made for some hot recycled gift tags when cut and punched just so. They masqueraded nicely as Fancy New Gift Tags even though they were Just Old Cards Cut Into New Shapes.



The fact that this new gift card recycling project has turned into a new obsession for me and has caused me to hoard cards with scary regularity will just have to go unspoken, thankyouverymuch.

And with all my holiday gift-giving criteria successfully checked off the list (you knew there was a list, right? This is me we're talking about here.), I baked. And then I wrapped that baking up with Fancy New Gift Tags and ribbon, too. And then I thought about wrapping myself in ribbon and reused gift tags but thought better of it since I'm not sure that is what we're calling Sexy these days in the Finny household.

No. Sexy for us is hooded sweatshirts, fried chicken, gin/bourbon and HD Sunday NFL Ticket. We are so trailer.

8 comments:

  1. Delurking....Somehow you managed to sound like Scrooge and Father Christmas in the same post. Merry Christmas Finny.

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  2. Those are fantastic gifts! And compare your recycled gift tags to those tiny sticky tags in the wrapping paper section that don't give you enough room to write anyones name. Yours win hands down. By the way, I was driving around today and saw something that made me think of you. A car heading towards me was decorated like a giant reindeer. There were antlers standing up on each of the front windows and a huge red nose on the front grill. I personally love Christmas decorations, but dressing your car up? Why? Anyway, have a nice Christmas holiday and let us all know when you choose a new book for the 2008 sew along.

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  3. Man, you are on quite the roll! I love the scarves, but even more do I love the recycled card gift tags, because I, too, have a problem with the whole wastefulness factor of cards (well, and I tend to hoard anyway.) Your whole presentation looks so chic.

    Consider this Stolen Idea #2 for this week.

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  4. I think hand-made gifts are fantastic. Nothing conveys warmth to friends and relatives like the gift of your time and hard work. Added grace note, the fleece is probably recycled plastic bottles, making you so Green you're practically a Tanquerey bottle.

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  5. You're going to tell us how to make those scarves, right? So that I can think to myself "oh yeah, I'm gonna make those" but then I never will.

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  6. Hey trailer, love the recycled gift card/tag idea, I will definitely have to get on that. Unfortunately I don't get many cards anymore, just a few straggle in, since I'm "that girl who lives on Mars" (you know, that's our closest neighbor over here across the pond), but maybe if I send out a bunch next year I'll get on people's "lists."
    How about a post on those oh-so-fun Christmas update letters? I'd love to hear your spin on it. Personally I love them but love to make fun of them also.

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  7. rebekah - Hello delurker! I will have to tell Bubba how dynamic I am with my dual holiday personalities :) And Merry ThisHoliday to you, too!

    Jan - Oh how I wish you were reckless and took photos while you drove. I mean, so we could all see this car you speak of. New book coming soon!

    Meg - Hoard away, my friend. Now we have a 'purpose' for our hoarding. Steal steal!

    Steven - That is how I see it - that I'm busy and when I take time out of my life to handmake things, this says more about how much I like you than me going online and buying you something. Because that takes five seconds and I do it all the time anyway. Let's assume the fleece is made from recycled something so that I can become one with my beloved Tanquerey.

    Eliz - SURE! I hadn't thought of it, but I definitely can. I'll put it on the docket. Then you can officially never make it, but know that you *could* if you wanted to.

    Shelley - Wait till you're back in the states, you'll get cards with reckless abandon. Meanwhile, I'm going to write my ode to the Christmas newsletter raght nahw. I haven't bitched about those at ALL.

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  8. The scarves are very cute. I love how you packaged them!

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[2013 update: You can't comment as an anonymous person anymore. Too many douchebags were leaving bullshit SPAM comments and my inbox was getting flooded, but if you're here to comment in a real way like a real person, go to it.]

Look at you commenting, that's fun.

So, here's the thing with commenting, unless you have an email address associated with your own profile, your comment will still post, but I won't have an email address with which to reply to you personally.

Sucks, right?

Anyway, to remedy this, I usually come back to my posts and post replies in the comment field with you.

But, if you ever want to email me directly to talk about pumpkins or shoes or what it's like to spend a good part of your day Swiffering - shoot me an email to finnyknitsATgmailDOTcom.

Cheers.