Quality Over Quantity: a blog treatise

{{ticking rag ornaments from Looking Glass House}}

Here is something that I would like you think about this holiday season…

Quality Over Quantity

What I mean by that is buying less gifts and choosing to buy quality-made artisan gifts as opposed to buying lots of mass-produced and cheaply made crap.

Why?

It’s better for the environment. Less gifts = less waste.

It helps us all to appreciate the things we already have and to learn to step off the treadmill of MORE.

Your dollars will have more of an impact going to an artisan as opposed to some nameless corporation.

Less gifts mean less holiday shopping, which means less stress for you and more time to spend with family & friends.

Gifts will be more meaningful, so they are more likely to be treasured and handed down to future generations.

Because most people in the developed world already have enough stuff.

I know many of you may be saying to yourself:

But, buying handmade artisan gifts for everyone on my gift list will be expensive.

Well, I say to you, maybe you can reevaluate your gift list and how you give gifts. Talk it over with your friends & family and think about giving Pollyanna (Secret Santa) or some other gift exchange alternative a try. Or decide that adults do not exchange gifts, just keep gift giving for children, teens and college-aged kids. Also, ask yourself, “Does every one of my kid’s teachers, the mail carrier, the dry cleaner and all 6 of the neighbors really need this stuff I am buying for them?” Probably not. It is a nice thought though, and I know you want them all  to have a wonderful season, so why not make some cookies instead or give them a handmade card?

As a student of history, I know a thing or two about how Christmas has been celebrated over the years (at least in the US) and it wasn’t always this gift-centered extreme holiday that it is now.  In the very early years of the colonies, the celebration of Christmas wasn’t practiced. The Puritans didn’t  approve of it. Christmas became more popular after the early 1800s, but gift giving was not really the main focus. Gift giving didn’t become popular until the Victorian era with the emergence of the middle-class. Gifts were small though and often things like sweets and fruits. After World War II, gift giving exploded and it has only grown and grown and grown since then. A pretty recent tradition and one that I think we can choose to scale back on & instead focus on the tradition of sharing joy with the ones we love.

Maybe we can bring a little more cheer, goodwill and

merriment to the season and less shopping,

commercials and big-screen tvs.

{{miniature wood town from says the tree miniatures}}

{{cotton tree napkins from betsy}}

{{let it snow ornament from Hodge Podge Arts}}

{{needle felted doves from asherjasper}}

{{ felt pear ornament from lil fish studios}}

{{tree felted bowl from the fuzzy monkey}}

{{embroidered snowflake ornament from What. No Mints?}}

{{let it snow from Pink Tiger Textiles}}