News to me

I'm reaching the sneaking realization that making 90% of your Christmas gifts is not a normal thing.

Of course this year, hand made gifts are being made due to lack of funds more so than preference, but still. I have always made a lot of the presents I've given to people. Maybe it's a youngest child thing or maybe it's because my mom always took the "we could make that and save tons of money" route (which often meant my sister and I spent hours painting, gluing, tying, etc. hunched over a card table in the dining room and dad spent a day or two carving something out of wood while mom supervised).

I've been known to build a piece of white cake with chocolate frosting out of scrapbook paper for a birthday surprise (a "no calorie" cake), compile mix cds with hand drawn covers, and create personalized picture frames.

What I'm realizing this year (probably due to the additional items I've been creating for Zeelightful) is that most people do not spend the weeks leading up to Christmas making all of the gifts they will be giving. They go shopping, buy the gifts then spend their time baking cookies, decorating the house and wrapping. I go home, put in a DVD and proceed to cover various objects in Mod Podge and brightly colored paper or decide to buy some fabric and just "whip up a pillow real quick." I always think," oh, it won't take me long at all. it'll be real quick." ALWAYS. I think that with quilts, tutus, boxes of all shapes and sizes. If I decided one day to make my nephew a toy box in the shape of a dinosaur (something I will never do) I am 99.9% positive the words "it won't take long" would come out of my mouth.

So the thing is, apparently, I'm delusional. That is the only explanation, right? Other wise I wouldn't have just spent the last several weeks gluing, painting and tying various objects for my loved ones (with two more weeks left to go!) and I would definitely have more cookies.