How Making Gifts Has Made Me Better at Receiving Them
Not your average topic here. If you follow along with my blog, there is a chance that you are if not a knitter, a crafter of some various medium. So bear with me here. The holidays are upon us. And there is a good chance that most of us are in some kind of frantic frenzy to finish up our hand made gifts. This year, I took a look at the gifts that I love and value, and thought about why? That lead me to realize how making gifts has taught me better at receiving them.
The other day my mom and I were talking about traveling and how I had taken the time to pack different things that people had gifted the kids. My goal is to use the gifts that we’ve received to demonstrate how much we appreciate them. In this case, I was making sure that I had packed specific articles of clothing for a trip to Florida. My mom told me how thoughtful I was and how she was surprised by how much care I was taking.
Making a Gift
A handmade gift isn’t something you pluck out of thin air or whip up on a whim. You hold the person in your mind and heart as you plan and make the gift. It’s much more the labor and skill required to make the item, but the thoughtfulness, joy, and love that goest into it. When you see that recipient wear, use, or love that gift, it makes your heart sing because you remember the joy in making it. On the other side, when the moment you gift something is the last time you see it, well that stings.
Learning How to Receive
I’ve had my fair share of both experiences…probably more of the later. I’m not bitter. These experiences have not only taught me how and to whom to gift in the future, but they’ve also taught me how to receive. Regardless of whether a gift is handmade or not, I’m now much more aware of the emotion that has gone into it. Now when I receive something, I make a mental note or write down who gave it to me and what the gift is. This way I can make sure to demonstrate what the gift means to me at a later point in time.
The Best Advice for Being Better at Receiving Gifts
Along with the experience of making gifts, I was aided in this realization in a perfect piece of advice. My Mother in Law advised us to make a list (we did it in Google Docs) of all of the gifts we received, who gave them to us, and if you want to, the value of the gift. We did this for our wedding and baby shower. Now it’s easy to recall who gave us what – so that we can make sure to share how much we love and appreciate the gifts. If we ever need to gift something in return we also have an idea of how much we should gift in order to reciprocate their generosity.
Now every year when I host a party I can pull out the dishes, placemats, vases, etc. that were gifts and people love to see them in use. It’s almost like giving them a gift in return. As I grow and raise my kids, I continue to learn how to be even more gracious and thankful fro the things (love, and kindness), that we receive. With ever gift I make, this lesson is just solidified even further.
If You Don’t Make Things By Hand
This post is still relevant for you. I hope by reading this post, you have a bit of an idea just how much energy and emotion go into these handmade gifts. I also hope you know just how much it stings when they aren’t well received. I’m not saying that you have to love everything that you are given. Goodness knows my early gifts weren’t the best quality or even the best designs.
If you’d like to give me a gift that I’ll appreciate for years to come, please consider leaving me a review on my etsy, or ravelry accounts, or, connecting with me on instagram, youtube, and pinterest.
