The Beginning

I recently started sewing again.  A few months ago, the blogosphere was abuzz about this book by Kata Golda.  I liked what I saw online and went ahead and bought it.  In my world acquiring books and actually reading them are two completely different things so, despite the fact that I bought this book during the winter, it sat, and sat on my bookshelf until very recently when I made two felt mice for my little girls, let's call them Little Tiger and The Milk Belly Princess. When I was finished I showed the mice to The Mister who said that they were the sorts of toys the girls should have instead of the myriad plastic trinkets that were rapidly accumulating in our living room.  Since I'd recently sustained a nasty bruise on the sole of my foot from stepping on one of these trinkets, I couldn't help but agree.  

I don't consider myself to be materialistic.  I really, truly do believe that excess breeds disregard and would hate to think that I'm raising spoiled children...yet my girls have an obscene number of toys.  So I started to think.  Far be it from me to try to boss around their grandparents and tell them not to buy toys (never mind the fact that I distinctly remember my mother giving me my father's rolled up socks to play with when I was little, but whatever).  I decided that I could do my part and make a conscious effort to only give them gifts that required my mindfulness and effort.  

I know that there are several people who have blogs chronicling their year-long adventures in only buying thrifted or handmade goods and this gave me an idea.  What if, for the next year, I only gave my daughters gifts that I made for them?  A year seems like a serious commitment, except that I'm a crazy, early Christmas shopper and I'm pretty much finished with my shopping for this year.  So, this made me decide to make things a little more difficult by going from now until Christmas 2011.  

It's easy to make a bold, sweeping statement and throw down an ultimatum (ask The Mister, I do it all the time) so I don't want to just leave it at that.  I feel like I need to make myself some rules.  This is a potentially slippery slope and I need definition.  For the next couple of days I'm going to further develop this idea and my next entry will be about the rules and guidelines I'm giving to myself.  I welcome any of your thoughts.  

Comments

[Robin]

Rules and guidelines! I can't wait to see what you come up with.

[Stephanie]

Way to go!

[Haley]

you go, girl. your blog looks great and i love the great picture you put as your header. good luck with your goal. i get so sucked in to all the toy catalogs at christmas. take care.

[Audra]

Thanks ladies! I appreciate all of the support!