Handmade Holiday

I am a self professed Gen-X'er. I grew up watching personal computers go from science fiction to a nearly disposable object. I grew along side the video game industry as it changed the face of entertainment. I saw the witnessed the war between beta and VHS long before they changed their names to Blu-ray and Hd-dvd. I watched as vinyl all but died and my walkman became a discman and then an ipod. The point I'm trying to make here is I cannot live without tech and neither can any member of my family. I mention all this because I have begun my holiday shopping and I feel so much pressure to have a handmade holiday and I don't think it is possible for me to comply.

I know I can't be the only one trying to work out this dilemma. I want to support my fellow artisans, I want to be socially responsible and I of course want others to buy handmade to support myself. My family, however, would not be pleased with a holiday that did not include the newest video game release or some piece of fantastic technology. Since making ones family happy should be the focus of the holiday, not some social agenda, I simply can't justify forcing unwanted gifts on them.

I think that I found found a nice middle ground already though, that is a little handmade for everyone this holiday. I've decided that I would get at least one present for everyone at etsy and then the rest of their gifts can be whatever they really want. I also think the key to getting people to accept their handmade gifts is to make sure it is really something they would like, even if it had been bought at the mall. I've forced vegan body lotion and lip balm on my family in the past and I think I might have just wasted my money. I'm going to get it right this time.

I wish I could show you all the amazing things that I have already picked up, but I'm afraid the family would pick now to visit the blog and ruin the surprises. Perhaps after the holidays, I'll have a giant gift feature to show them all off. I'm also encouraging my four year old to make gifts for her cousins, with my help of course, but I think this might start her out with a better appreciation of handmade goodness and as soon as I'm sure the one year old won't try to eat the hot glue, she can help too. We may not have a completely handmade holiday, but perhaps we can have the best of both worlds.