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Why do homeschoolers think homemade gifts mean "celebrating the real meaning"?


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Now, please don't get me wrong. I LOVE homemade gifts. I give homemade fudge to people I love. What I don't understand is why so many Christians and homeschoolers seem to equate homemade gifts with celebrating the "real meaning of Christmas". It seems I read over and over on FB and blogs about how this family will be avoiding commercialism and only making gifts this year. They make it sound like if you go stand in line at 7am (like I did) to get my mom the perfect gift - that in some way - I am not celebrating the real meaning of Christmas. Totally don't get why a store bought gift (while it is commercialism) doesn't qualify and a gift that was given with as much love.

 

ETA - I don't mean to say only Christians or homeschoolers do this - just in my circles - my more religious or homeschooling friends seem to have this line of thinking.

Edited by Kari C in SC
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I think it's fine if people want to make gifts, but should not be imposing that on others. I have no interest in making anyone gifts, but would happily accept any gifts people want to make for me.

 

I'd also rather get gift ideas for people than try to think up the perfect gift to buy (though it is fun when it occasionally happens). I invest time and effort into the relationships in other ways. For me, family is what it's all about, so I don't see how homemade gifts could make that any more real for me.

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I think that some people need to look very closely at the way they think about and give homemade gifts. It can very often become an assembly line event of one-size-fits-all giving that is actually *less* heartfelt than individually chosen store-bought (or homemade) gifts!

 

I'm not discounting the fact that many people can only afford to make 1-2 items for a lot of family and friends. Homemade may be the only way that they can give at all. That's different and hopefully the recipients get that.

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In my case, my feeling about home-made gifts pre-dates my decision to homeschool. And I'm not a Christian.

 

I've always felt that it take so much less time to buy a gift than it does to make it. Some of this, probably, dates back to my childhood. My mother was an artist, and for years I said I would love to have one of her creations for my own. However, every year, she got very busy with commissions for other people around the holidays. So, on Christmas morning, I would awake to a tree stuffed with extravagant gifts, all of which had been purchased because she didn't have time left to make me anything.

 

Essentially, I got stuff because I didn't get anything else.

 

From very early on, I knew that I would have much rather had something that represented my parents' investment of time than something they bought at the mall. And I carried that feeling into adulthood.

 

There is also, for me, a belief that the "true meaning" of Christmas has to do with giving of yourself. And, for me, that giving is more meaningful if it requires the kind of effort and time that making a gift represents.

 

I will say that I finally reached an epiphany regarding my father-in-law and money. He always used to insist on giving us money whenever he came to visit, and it drove me crazy. I didn't want him to feel like he had to buy our affection or our willingness to have him around. Then, one day, it hit me: He made money like I cook or bake or do crafts. It was his job but also his hobby, in some ways. So, when he gave us money, he was giving of himself in exactly the way that I do when I box up a batch of home-made cookies.

 

The money, for him, was something he "made," and he wanted to share it with his family.

 

In all of my life, though, he's the only person about whom I've managed to get to that understanding.

 

Home-made gifts -- both for giving and for receiving -- are more meaningful for me.

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I never understood that. I love homemade gifts, but unless you grow and make everything yourself you have to buy the ingredients/materials to make the homemade gifts. And there is plenty of commercialism with the craft stores and grocery stores! In my book there isn't much difference in the "commercial" aspect of it.

 

I wonder if for those people they have been caught up and focused on the wrong things, and for them that signals a drastic change - IDK. We always do a combination of things.

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There is also, for me, a belief that the "true meaning" of Christmas has to do with giving of yourself. And, for me, that giving is more meaningful if it requires the kind of effort and time that making a gift represents.

 

I will say that I finally reached an epiphany regarding my father-in-law and money. He always used to insist on giving us money whenever he came to visit, and it drove me crazy. I didn't want him to feel like he had to buy our affection or our willingness to have him around. Then, one day, it hit me: He made money like I cook or bake or do crafts. It was his job but also his hobby, in some ways. So, when he gave us money, he was giving of himself in exactly the way that I do when I box up a batch of home-made cookies.

 

 

:iagree: That is exactly it (the bolded part)! Sometimes this is a homemade gift and sometimes it is a store bought gift.

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I had about 30 people on my Christmas list as a kid. I handmade some of those gifts, and for those it wasn't appropriate to make something for, I bought something. Now to earn that money, I had to clean the bath and weed the garden, and I shan't believe that didn't take just as much effort!

 

Rosie

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Thank you for perspective. I have done both in the past - some years handmade, some years not and some a combination. I guess with the sharing of so much via FB, blogs and here - I was just reading over and over about staying out of the stores and create your presents. As I said, I have much requested fudge and I do make that as gifts. I also found just the perfect thing for my mom that she will love, but I had to get out in the early morning, stand in line, etc. to get it. People were bashing Black Friday shoppers saying they were greedy, materialistic, etc. I just was thinking that I wasn't standing there for ME this morning - I was standing there so my sister and I could gift my mom with something we might not have been able to afford otherwise. I could make my mom fudge and put my time into that, but since it is her recipe - she might think I was a bit crazy! Anyway, I enjoy hearing others thoughts on it.

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Why do you think it's just homeschoolers who think that? :confused:

 

I don't think it is just homeschoolers. I just tend to have a large circle of friends and people I know that are homeschoolers. They are the majority of people writing these types of posts. People I know from different walks of life don't seem to care all that much about it.

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