Bedtime Story (12/12/2018)

Homemade gifts have a special place in my heart.  I love receiving something that someone has made for me and whilst I'm not the best when it comes to creative endeavours, this year I have made something for someone!  This story is for everyone who has ever made a gift themselves, or who treasures a handmade present from a loved one.

To listen to this story as a podcast, click here.

The Homemade Christmas Presents

Lola had covered the dining room table with everything she would need.  Scattered across the surface were bottles of glue, pots of glitter, sheets of paper and card, paints, pens, ribbons, beads and a whole lot more besides.

Dad frowned over the top of his newspaper.  "What on Earth are you doing?"

Lola smiled.  "This year, I'm going to make you and Mum a special homemade present to give you on Christmas Day."  She leaned forwards dramatically, trying to hide everything she'd gathered on the table.  "You're not allowed to look," she ordered.  "Or it'll spoil the surprise!"

Dad chuckled to himself and returned to his reading, leaving Lola to get started.  She hadn't quite decided what to make yet, but she knew that it should be sparkly.  It was Christmas, after all!  Drumming her fingers on the table, Lola thought about the picture Mum kept stuck to the fridge.  It was of Mum, Dad, Lola and Branson the dog, all sitting at a picnic table in the sunshine.  Lola decided she'd make a frame for it.

Reaching across the table, Lola grabbed a sheet of brightly coloured card.  She'd never made a photo frame before, but she guessed it couldn't be too hard.  All she needed to do was put some decorations around the edge of the card and then stick the photo in the middle, didn't she?  Mum would definitely notice the picture was gone from the fridge, but Lola was sure she would be pleased on Christmas Day, when she saw it looking really special.

Lola opened a bottle of glue and tried to gently squeeze some onto the edge of her card.  It spurted across the whole sheet, leaving it sticky and wet.  Lola frowned.  That wasn't meant to happen!  Using her fingers, she tried to wipe the glue away, but that just made her hands all sticky, too.  Besides, the more Lola wiped, the thinner the card seemed to be getting.  Before long, a small hole had appeared right in the middle.

Lola let out a long sigh.  This wasn't quite going to plan.  Not that she'd had a plan...

After a minute or two of frustration, Lola decided to carry on as best she could.  She grabbed a pot of bright pink glitter and pulled off the lid.  With a flash of colour, the glitter exploded from the pot and rained down onto the table, the card, Lola and everything else in sight.

"Is everything okay back there?"  Dad called, putting down his newspaper again.

"Yes, Dad," Lola called, pulling a face as she desperately tried to sweep all of the glitter back into the pot.  It stuck to her gluey fingers, leaving them pink and sparkly.

Lola looked down at her photo frame.  It looked okay; maybe a bit dog-eared and overly glittery, but she could rescue that, she was sure.

Lola leaned across the table to take a handful of beads.  As she leaned over the frame she was decorating, her clothes stuck to the glue.  To Lola's horror, her jumper was covered in glitter and the frame she'd been working on had lots of bright red fluff all over it.

Lola groaned as she tried to pick the fluff off the frame, but all she succeeded in doing was making her hands even more glittery than before.  She let out a sigh.  "Fine," she said to herself.  "It'll be a glittery and also fluffy photo frame."

She began to add a little more glue, so that she could stick beads onto the frame, but the card was now wearing ever so thin and soon, there was so much glue around the edges that the whole thing began to bend.  Worse still, the glitter Lola had poured on earlier was starting to drip all over the place as the glue ran.

Lola started trying to mop up the glue with a sheet of kitchen roll, but it stuck to the glue and soon her photo frame was a soggy, slightly ripped mess of glitter, fluff and bits of kitchen roll, plus one or two stray beads.  "This is rubbish," Lola sighed.  "I'll paint a picture, instead."

She leaned over to grab a bottle of paint, but as she squeezed the bottle, paint spurted out all over the photo frame.  It was the final straw.  Lola held her head in her hands and stuck out her lower lip.

"Oh," Dad said, as he appeared behind her.  "You've made a...  Um...  It's a..."

Lola rolled her eyes.  "You weren't supposed to see it until Christmas Day," she tutted.  "It was going to be a photo frame," she added, with a sigh.  "But it's no good."

Dad shook his head.  "I don't agree," he told her.  "I think it's great!  And your mum will really love it."

Lola frowned.  "But it's all messy and there's not a nice, clean space for a photo!  It looks like I've just chucked a load of paint, glue and glitter at the page and then got my clothes and a load of kitchen roll stuck to it.  Which...  I sort of... Did."

Dad chuckled.  "But when you stick a photo in the middle, none of that will matter," he said.  "It'll just look like funky decorations around the sides.  And your mum will know that you made something special, all by yourself."

"I was going to use that photo we took in the summer," Lola explained.  "The one Mum keeps stuck to the fridge.  I know she loves it."

Dad disappeared into the kitchen and came back with the photograph in his hand.  He gently stuck it in the centre of Lola's handmade photo frame.  "There," he said, stepping back.  "It looks brilliant."

Lola gazed at the photo frame and then back at her dad's broad smile.  The frame was still messy and it didn't look anything like Lola had imagined it would, but her dad didn't seem to care.  Lola wrinkled her nose.  "Don't you think it should be prettier?  Or at least neater?"

Dad shook his head.  "I think it's perfect as it is," he insisted.  "Because it was made with love.  That's all that matters, Lola.  You wanted to do something nice and you put a lot of thought into it.  The very best Christmas presents aren't necessarily the ones that cost a lot of money.  They're the ones that show how much someone cares."  He smiled at Lola.  "I think this will be your mum's favourite present, this year."

Lola beamed up at him.  "Thanks for making me feel better," she whispered.

When the frame was dry, Dad helped Lola carefully wrap it in sparkly paper and together, they placed it underneath the Christmas tree.  Lola knew that it wasn't the best photo frame in the world, but she also knew that that didn't matter.

You wouldn't be able to find another photo frame like it, even if you searched all over town.  Lola's photo frame was handmade with love.  And that made it extra special.

THE END

I'm Getting CRAFTY!

I won't lie to you, dear reader.  My Inktober/Blogtober challenge was exactly that: a challenge.  Writing a blog every day for a month was in many ways a really wonderful experience; it made me rediscover my passion for writing and it forced me to write about different things, taking me out of my comfort zone.  But it was also exhausting.  For the first couple of weeks of November, all I wanted to do was avoid writing, completely.

The trouble with avoiding something is that it's never a permanent solution.  You have to face whatever it is you're hiding from, eventually.  And for me, what I was really shying away from was the fact that for a month, I'd had prompt words to help me write something new every day.  I didn't have to think overly hard about a writing topic, because the words usually led to one pretty easily.  That was a huge bonus for me, because anyone who writes will, at some point in their life, experience the dreaded WRITER'S BLOCK.

Indeed, that's exactly what I started suffering with, the second November began and I knew that anything I wrote here had to come from me and not from a handy list of prompt words.

And that's where my friend Rachel stepped in.

There she is.  She's the one that isn't me.  Obviously.

Rach sent me not one, not two, but three sets of writing prompts I could use for future blogs, should I find myself struggling.  Today, I decided the time was right to do some blogging, so I opened up one of the prompt lists and stumbled upon the question:

"Have you ever given someone a handmade present?"

The short answer is "yes."  From little things I made at school as a child, to bits and bobs I cobbled together as a young adult who was (and, to be fair, still is as a middle-aged woman) always broke this time of year, there have been many times when I've handed someone a gift that I'd made, myself.

The trouble is, I am bad at craft.  Like...  Really bad.  If you've watched my most recent YouTube video, or you've ever stumbled upon the drunk craft channel I co-run with my wonderful friend Lesley, you'll know just how bad I am.

Sometimes, I'm bad at something and my failure to be any good at it causes me to loathe the activity completely.  See: any form of mathematical equation.  But now and then, I am rubbish at something and yet still enjoy it.  See: Bowling.  And also craft.

This year, I decided that I wanted to make something for someone.  I can't elaborate much further, just in case said someone decides to click on this blog and guesses what it is I've been working on, but suffice to say, seeing as I'm someone who is distinctly un-crafty, the task I set myself was quite a big one.  For someone with the ability to thread a needle without poking themselves in the hand, it would probably be nothing at all, but for me, it was no mean feat.

Just going out and buying the things I'd need was a big deal.  I mean, I don't do crafty stuff.  I didn't really know what I needed.  And once I'd gotten the materials home, there was a point at which I sat on my bed, staring at it all, wondering why on Earth I'd decided to try something so far out of my comfort zone.

Then I remembered what I wanted to make and why.  I had already bought Christmas presents for the recipient of my crafty endeavour, but I wanted to give them something I'd taken time over.  Something that really was from me.

I did it.  I persevered at something that I found difficult and although the end result isn't the best thing ever, it's something I'm proud of.  I look at it now (obviously it won't be given away as a present for a few weeks, yet...) and I see mistakes and areas where I needed to slow down and take more care, but I also see a finished product that I never really thought I could achieve.  It means a lot to me that I stuck at it and created something that I think is nice.

The thing is, now it's given me the craft bug.  

This morning, I've painted an object with acrylic paint, ready to turn it into... SOMETHING ELSE.  It's a top secret project (yet again) and I'm getting very excited about seeing this one through, just like my last crafty mission.  Taking bare bones and raw materials and turning them into something pretty, useful or interesting is, as it turns out, an awful lot of fun.  Plus, I get to use a GLUE GUN.  It's win-win.

The things I make might not win any awards for their brilliance.  I certainly couldn't sell them, anywhere.  I'm under no illusion that I'm suddenly incredibly gifted in this particular area.  But I'm learning all the time and I'm having an absolute blast doing it.  There are now bigger, trickier things I want to try, like learning to knit, or making my own jewellery.  I'll probably suck at both, but you know what?  I'll have fun giving it a go, anyway.

And on that note, I ought to go and see if that paint is dry, yet.  I have important, crafty things to do...

This Year, I've Got Christmas All Wrapped Up!

Yes, that's me.  No, I didn't make it over that pole.

I love Christmas.  For me, it's a wonderful, heartwarming time of year, to be spent with family and friends.  I love the guilt-free pigging out that we all do.  I love the fact that it's socially acceptable to be tipsy on Bucks Fizz at ten thirty in the morning.  I love the evenings spent gathered around the telly, watching the soaps, whilst we attempt to digest the year's biggest roast dinner (and still we open a tube of Pringles, because "IT'S CHRISTMAS!").

What I'm much less keen on is the cost. Because for me, being in a fairly low-paid job, getting into a financial knot over the festive period has become almost as inevitable as crying over the seasonal John Lewis advert.

He was a penguin who found LOVE. Of COURSE I wept. 

So, this year, I've become one of those people.  You know, the really irritating ones who post on Facebook "well, that's all my Christmas shopping done!" at some point in September.  The ones so smug, you sort of want to dollop brandy butter on their heads (but you wouldn't, because damnit, what a waste of brandy butter that would be... Mmmm, brandy butter).

It's not quite mid October and I have not finished my Christmas shopping.  So, you can put away your festive condiments; my smugness has not yet reached hair-smothering levels.  That said, out of my four closest friends, two are completely bought for.  I've also made lists for my parents (and crossed two big items for my dad off already) and for my sister and her partner.  I've split said lists into things to be ordered sooner and items that can wait until closer to the big day.  Put simply: I'm spreading the cost of Christmas to make it a damn sight easier on me than it has been in previous years.

Yes, yes, I know it's not about the money you spend.  Of course it isn't.  One of the gifts I'm going to be buying for my best friend costs under a tenner and I'm certain she'll be thrilled with it.  And that's another part of my grand plan this year - shopping around and buying things when they're on offer, or hunting for a last-minute bargain are great ways to make my wallet a little happier as we approach the festive season.

I almost wish I hadn't mentioned this, because now it's all I can think of...

Essentially, Christmas - in my eyes at least - is a time to be spent with the people you care most for, eating, drinking and generally being merry.  I am an annoyingly sentimental and enthusiastic lover of all things festive and knowing that I'm actually managing to spread the cost of presents and therefore reducing the level of "oh my GOD, how will I pay my bills in January?!" is only going to make me even happier, as December inches ever closer.

And I'm not writing this to be smug.  Seriously, I have a lot still to buy and I'll be doing that little last-minute dance in and out of shops on Christmas Eve, because frankly, I enjoy that.  I love the cold chill on my cheeks and the sense of expectation in the air as I stroll the streets, looking for one or two final gifts to fill my stockings with.  Not my stockings, but... Oh, there's a mental image you'll never get out of your head.  Sorry about that.

Basically, I'm writing this for two reasons.  Firstly, because if there's anyone else out there who's on a strict budget and panicking a little about how they'll afford Christmas, I want them to know that the thought really does count more than the financial worth of anything you give.  Just being with people is one of the most valuable gifts of all and memories last a lot longer than most presents do.  And if you do want or need to buy gifts for people, there are definitely ways to make the festive season less of a financial strain.  Spread your gift list into three sections marked "October," "November" and "December" and work out a budget for each of those months - then you can spread the cost of buying Christmas presents over the course of several weeks, rather than racking up big bills over a shorter period of time (those people who've finished their Christmas shopping already really might be on to someting...).  Spend only what you can afford and shop around for bargains!  But please, please don't ever think that expensive presents are what Christmas is really all about and don't get yourself into trouble, trying to buy things you can't afford.  I've had Januarys where I've struggled to pay for anything, because I've overspent at Christmas and it really isn't worth it.  Much like young kids often play more with the boxes than the toys, my family always treasure the "together-time" we have over the festive period more than anything I've ever bought them.  That's the thing to remember, when money is running low and you can't get that extra gift for someone.

Which brings me onto the second reason I wanted to write this little blog.  I had a shock earlier this week, when someone I knew passed away very suddenly.  He was only middle-aged and had a young family.  When I last saw him, he seemed a little under the weather, but his death came as a total shock.  Even though he wasn't a close family friend or anything like that, I was still stunned and deeply moved by the news.  One of the thoughts I kept having, over and over again, was "he won't be there with his family at Christmas."

We're here.  We're here right now.  And at the risk of being over-sentimental, that means more than anything else.  You can't wrap love up in shiny paper, or stick a bow on the top of it, and it doesn't come with a gift receipt.  But it's something we can give - at any time of year - and it means more than anything you can purchase in a shop.

I'm doing well with my Christmas shopping, this year.  I've got a budget, I'm sticking to it and I've pretty much got my list of things to buy sorted, for the coming weeks.  But more importantly, I've got people to buy things for.  My family will be with me on Christmas morning and my friends and I will have our annual pre-Christmas get-together.  Regardless of how much or how little I've got to spend this year, I've got Christmas all wrapped up.  And I know how bloody lucky that makes me.