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Author:
Posted: Nov. 17, 2002
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Vox Q Stats

Times Viewed: 32,767

Reponses: 43

Lurker/Post Ratio: 762 to 1
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Question of the Week: 18 - 12/11/2000

Your Gift, Craft and Holiday Celebration Ideas!

Over the last few weeks, TWV has tried to offer a balanced assortment of gift, craft and Yule/Solstice planning/celebration ideas. Gifts can be homegrown and homemade and some other ideas may send you off to "shop 'til you drop". We would now like to hear about YOUR gift giving ideas. Are you making some gifts or craft items this year? Would you like to share your favorite 'bargain spots on the web" secrets with us? Do you have any good projects for Pagan children or ideas for coven/group/family special 'traditions' that can help to make the Holidays especially meaningful or spiritual? C'mon! Give!
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| Reponses: There are 43 responses posted to this question. |
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| I Have A Wood Shop, And Make Many Gifts For Yule. For... | Dec 11th. at 1:31:40 pm EST |

| Wood Owl (Denton, Texas US) | Age: 45 - Email |

I have a wood shop, and make many gifts for Yule. For all you pagan wood crafters out there, I've found the best place to get excellent pieces of wood for small-to-medium projects is at a local cabinetry shop. Many shops will throw out beautiful pieces of oak, ash, maple, and other normally expensive woods, as scrap, and many will let you pick through the scraps for free! If you have a bisquit jointer, you can even joint up the smaller pieces for larger projects.
This is an excellent way to make good use of something that would normally go into the local landfill.
Blessed Be, Wood Owl
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| I Always Make Almost All Of My Gifts. With Two Large Families... | Dec 11th. at 1:13:24 pm EST |

| Jamie (Seattle, Washington US) | Age: 27 - Email |

I always make almost all of my gifts. With two large families, many friends, and a limited budget, it's the only way to remember everyone who is important to me without going bankrupt. Here's some of what's going out this year:
Blackberry cordial (Picked the blackberries all summer) Blackberry pie filling (canned, with ready-made pie crust in a pie plate from the thrift store) Canned pesto Photo albums Calendar of my art (for my mom, stepmother, grandparents - printed from my computer then bound at Kinko's) Soap - many varieties. A couple of herbal sets: peppermint (stimulating), chamomile (healing), lavendar (soothing) and oatmeal-honey (moisturizing). Also soap with toys in them for the kids, and little stacks of star-shaped soaps for people at work, etc. Many, Many plates of cookies, including fudge and marzipan in fruit shapes
Preparing for the holildays takes me most of November and December, but I've learned to share some of these projects with friends and family. My best girlfriend and I will be doing all the cookie baking together, and a couple of our friends will be over, hanging out with us, while we do that. We'll have holiday music and old movies, and that's the real gift - time spent with loved ones just for the sake of spending time together.
This year, my close friends and I are having our own "christmas" on the 29th. I find it ironic that we still call it christmas, given that we're an eclectic group of wiccans, christians, agnostics and athiests. Regardless, we wanted to have a special time set aside to exchange gifts and be together. We reserve the 24th and 25th for our blood relations, but from Friday the 29th through Monday the 1st, we'll be with eachother. The party just keeps rolling through the whole extended weekend. I can't wait.
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| My Boy Friend And I Each Have A Daughter From Previous Relationships... | Dec 11th. at 12:51:11 pm EST |

| Terri Rich (Shimmer) (Gansevoort, New York US) | Age: 31 - Email |

My Boy friend and I each have a daughter from previous relationships. My daughter is 5 and his is 8. This is our first year together for yule and we wanted to do thing with the children. So we made glitter coverd pine cones with to hang on the trees. First you string the pine cones, then roll them in glue on a plate, put the glitter in a zip lock bag and drop in the pine cone an shake. Its alittle messy but fun. We also made pipe cleaner snow flakes which also turned out to be very relaxing and creative for the girls, we ended up using some feather and beads. When we were done we had snow flakes, dreamcatchers, candy canes, wreaths, snowmen, hearts, all kinds of things. this was the best because we did it all together. Happy Yule to you and yours. Blessed be. Terri
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| Soap And Bath Salts Are Increadibly Easy. From The Serious, Oatmeal Soap... | Dec 11th. at 12:08:04 pm EST |

| Nicole Mussen (Airsucker) (Walled Lake, Michigan US) | Age: 27 - Email |

Soap and bath salts are increadibly easy. From the serious, oatmeal soap (good for skin) and kitchen soap with corn meal for an abrasive, to the silly whiskey sour soap with real whiskey that I finished yesterday. Melt and mold soap is easy to do, safe (low melting point) and can even be a good craft for children. It's even correct for giving to those vegan friends if you're not adding milk. Herbs and essential oils are often used. I recommend Naturally in the Novi, Michigan area (NW of metro Detroit), The "Melt and Mold Soap Crafting" book by C. Kaila Westerman (available at Borders, my employer) and Jane' Small Gifts, www.janessmallgifts.com, one of the websites recommended in the back of the book. Much cheaper than buying gift certificates for the relatives in my husband's rather large family and more personal too.
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| This Is My First Yule Celebration Although Ive Been Studying For Awhile... | Dec 11th. at 9:37:03 am EST |

| moondust b (canton, Ohio US) | Age: 28 |

"This is my first yule celebration although ive been studying for awhile. i'm not a very crafty person, but im working on it, lol. i found my yule gifts at the less likely "magical" place- the mall! there is quite a few booths now that the season has kicked in, so i bumped into an indian reservation booth, and got my fiance a beautiful black homemade shirt they had made, for about 5 dollars cheaper than the magik shops. i went to a quant little booth and picked up my friend some homemadde jewlry, one necklace with a rope and stone frog at the end, and a stone frog although she's christian, i think she will love them, so. i suggest stop by the malls in your area and stop at their booths, you can find things that arnt made to br magical, but they still are :) for those of you in ohio, i went to canto centre mall in canton on tusc."
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| We've Approached Yule Differently This Year Than Previously. First, We Told The... | Dec 11th. at 8:06:15 am EST |

| Trish Telesco (Western, New York US) | Age: 40 - Email |

We've approached Yule differently this year than previously. First, we told the majority of our friends and family NOT to shop for anyone other than the children if they so desired. Instead, we suggested they do something really special for themselves with that money -- get a massage, take a day off, purchase gourmet chocolates, or whatever. I don't know about anyone else, but I hate the hectic pace of this season, and this allows everyone to slow down a bit and enjoy themselves more (or such was the hope).
Second, it has been our custom for as long as I can remember to take in someone who cannot get home for the holidays, or who has no family of which to speak. That person or persons joins us for everything from opening the santa socks to Yule dinner. It's always a wonderful time, and celebrates the season with the gift of friendship.
For a few very special people in our lives, we went looking for wholly unique gifts -- often made by artisans in our community, or a gift that addressed a specific need. Since such items tend to be pricey, we worked overtime so that no one would feel like anything was taking away from the family budget (and told them so!). A gift that creates guilt or discomfort isn't a good gift!
We've also saved bunches of bread crumbs that will be scattered for the birds, and have a bag of nuts for the squirrls, for Yule morning. We will bless these and place wishes therein of peace and joy -- then let our furry and feathered friends spread the energy!
Finally, for those surfers in our lives we got online gift certificates -- that way you know for sure they'll pick out something they LOVE.
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| Gifts: Most Of The Time I Have Real Problems Finding Gifts For... | Dec 11th. at 6:38:04 am EST |

| Skye Cat (Edinburgh, Scotland UK) | Age: 27 - Email |

Gifts:
Most of the time I have real problems finding gifts for this people at this season, mostly because my family is lucky enough to not have any material needs. We rely on lists from people to get them something they like. So, one of things I have done is to fund a tree in the Caledonian Forest for each of my family, so they have something practical and permanent.
For those in the UK, the charity is called "Trees for Life" and they are based at the Findhorn Foundation.
Skye
P.S. Morningstar, you are right to be concerned. But I don't know whether the founders of Witchvox get time to look at the Perspectives section. I suggest you email Wren or Fritz directly so they can put this in the News pages. I'm sure they wouldn't consider it an imposition.
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