To the Magic Makers....

One never knows what that unexpected magic will be each Christmas making all the fuss worthwhile. Good gift givers fall in several categories. Some people are just so rushed, but luckily have enough money to throw a ton of it last minute and come up with a great gift. Some just love the thrill of the hunt and will spend hours “dinking” as my husband calls it, in store after store picking through I don’t know what or at the time why until they pull out a spectacular find. Then there are those of us who have to give homemade. I wish I wasn’t like that, life would be so much simpler, but let’s face it, if you are reading this blog it’s because you do it too. So this blog entry has two intentions, first to wish us handmade gifts givers luck that our gifts will be appreciated proportionate to the thought, time and talent we’ve so lovingly put into them, but also to note that I may have had my magic moment even before one gift was opened.

A few days ago I agonized over cutting up a friend’s heirloom table cloth. Sue found it while cleaning out a closet, remembered it to have been made by her great Aunt Jenny on her mother’s side. The other two things she remembered, Jenny was in a wheel chair, and later in life had hands ravaged by arthritis. Wow, Wow and Wow. All of us know what kind of time it takes to complete a labor intensive task like a quilt or crocheted table cloth. I shudder to think Jenny’s hours might have been tossed away because the cotton she used was disintegrating faster than it could be repaired. I love my tree, and it now seems magical each time I pass it. I used over 100 of her flower clusters and stitched them to squares of thirty year old red Santa fabric, backed in remnants from two communion dresses I made years ago. What could be better? Life is good. Merry Christmas Everyone.