Let's make do—Hood's Man at the Back Tim Maguire on how to have a meaningful Christmas
Image courtesy of Kari Shea via Unsplash
Christmas shopping’s too easy. You don’t even need to go to a shop anymore; you can get all the presents you want at the click of a mouse, and you don’t need to wrap them either. A couple of quid gets you an ‘exclusive’ gift wrap along with a ‘personalised’ note and next-day delivery. It’s sad that e-commerce, which makes giving so easy, also makes it so unsatisfying for everybody apart from Jeff Bezos, whose income will have increased by another £10,000 in the time it will have taken you to read this sentence. But that’s how the law of unintended consequences works.
The whole personal/impersonal gift thing started, like so many things do, in L.A. Twenty years ago, a friend of mine was working in a boutique in West Hollywood, creating gift baskets for the rich and famous. I stopped by as he came off a call; one of Tom Cruise’s personal assistants had just ordered a basket to be created and dispatched to whoever Tom’s wife was at the time. I never imagined this would become ‘a thing’ so, as usual, I was wrong. But guess what? The Hollywood pendulum is starting to swing in the opposite direction. According to Instagram, Taylor Swift didn’t buy a birthing gift for Katy Perry and Orlando Bloom’s baby daughter Daisy; she made one.
‘Miss Daisy adores her hand-embroidered blankie from miss @taylorswift,’ Perry said on her Instagram page. ‘Hope it’s one she drags around for years till it becomes an unrecognisable shred that she keeps in her pocket as a teenager.’ It’s obvious—if you want your gift to twang someone’s heartstrings, make it yourself. A handmade gift says thoughtfulness; it hints at time spent and love lavished. If celebrities are choosing stitching over bitching, there is hope for us all and last night, inspired by Miss Daisy’s blankie; my own little family made a deal. This year, we’re going to make our presents, not buy them, and even if you can’t thread a needle, you still have time to tuck some delicious things under the tree.
One of the easiest to make is sloe gin. Sloes grow on blackthorn trees, which grow in hedgerows. Gin grows in off licences. Bring them together with a tablespoon of sugar in a recycled bottle. Shake it once a week until Christmas Eve, tie on a pretty label—sorted! Or do what the French do, and preserve plums in brandy; there is no better way to pimp a carton of vanilla ice cream. I know, there’s a theme emerging, but not all my seasonal suggestions involve alcohol. Why not fashion a face mask, craft a cushion or bake a Christmas cake? As I said last time, the humanist way to be happy is to make others so, and there’s no better time to do that than now. So, start foraging, get baking, and craft your very own Christmas. I wish you a merry one!
Tim Maguire has been a Humanist Celebrant for fifteen years. He is part of Celebrate People, a humanist and spiritual care organisation which offers ceremonies, chaplaincy, counselling, retreats, and talks. Tim is the first ever Humanist Chaplain to the University of Edinburgh. the author of ‘WE DO!’ How to Create a Meaningful Wedding Ceremony in Your Own Words, and our current Man at the Back.