I’ve written a lot how I am not a huge gift giver as I much prefer to give the gift of time to friends (a trip, a spa, a fancy dinner out…) or the unexpected gift. But when I do buy, I tend to lean towards handmade, unique, specially crafted goods whether they come from a chain store, a local shop or Etsy. So when I read the “Buy Handmade” Pledge for the holidays, I thought it was a great idea.

I have a lot of favourite items on Etsy, Decor8, Poppytalk Handmade, and Sew Green also have fantastic handmade lists. There are a lot of great stores that do handmade on a bigger scale like:

• Anthropologie (a lot of the home goods and jewelery are artisan made and quite a few done by charitable organizations).
• Branch Home (a lot of recycled and handmade items. I’m partial to these.)
• Shabby Chic (her furniture is artisan, not the Target Line),
• Whole Foods (they have handmade products from Africa that range from jewellery to home goods),
• Mothology

Another thought is to donate money or time to a charity in someone’s name – a great gift for the person who has everything.

There’s so many fantastic ways to buy handmade or locally – what are yours?

I wish that for all of us in 2008 – to make the ordinary, extraordinary, to make our visions real, to not hold back or to get caught up in living someone else’s dream or decor vision. To take the time we need, to not worry or fret if things take a little longer or change shape. To not try to live off other’s expectations and abilities but only our own. To live hygge.

So then, have a very Hygge Holiday – however you celebrate it.

xo

In Danish homes, Advent is celebrated with the arrival of the season’s first decoration-a beautiful Advent wreath of evergreen boughs that holds four tall, white or red candles. The wreath is hung above or set on the dining room table. On the first Sunday before Christmas, one candle is lit, and the most festive and celebrated season of the year begins. On the second Sunday of Advent, the first candle on the wreath and one more candle are lit. The ritual continues Sunday after Sunday until on the last Sunday before Christmas all four candles are lit together.

My mum, like most Danes, has always made the Advent Krans (she goes on walks for all the greenery and hand makes the candles) before the first Sunday of December. It was always hung above our coffee tables as that’s where everyone gathered (Sunday is a huge visiting day for Danes – even more so during the Holidays) and lit every Sunday until Christmas to celebrate each other and the countdown to Christmas.

The photo above is my mother’s Advent Krans in progress which she’ll have done by tonight* so she can begin her countdown. I must confess to being a little envious of my mum being snowed in, with access to trees and making her Advent Krans. Having literally just flown in a few hours ago and having been gone every weekend for the past month, I haven’t put mine together in time for tonight.

But despite an upcoming move I’m going to try to make one (more like Liselotte’s with a tray and votive) so that each Sunday I can lit mine, relax, and enjoy the simple beauty of this tradition. Because being in Los Angeles I often feel so removed from the Holidays so this photo is a reminder that participating in them doesn’t have to be hard.

I love February though not just because it’s my birthday month. I love it because it’s such a hopeful month to me; you feel as though winter is just almost over and spring is on the way, colours of pink, red and white dominate and tulips and robins start poking around. What’s not to love?

Well, there is the commercialism of a particular holiday that’s not to love, isn’t there? I saw Valentines day things in December and it made me really bitter about hearts and chocolate. That is, until I saw the lovely little Valentines notes that Ulla and Melkorka have made for everyone for free. And then I thought that perhaps this year would be the first year to celebrate Valentines.

I’ll actually be on a plane that day (leaving on the 13th and arriving into Copenhagen at 8AM on the 14th) and then checking into a hotel followed by sight seeing so I don’t really have anyone I know to give Valentines to. So I’ve decided I’m just going to randomly hand them out! To the flight crew, people in the row behind me, the taxi driver, the front desk clerk. I’m not sure how this will be taken but we’ll see. There just has to be some way to incorporate these lovely cards into the day….!

Instead, during Christmas I focus on spending time with friends and family, writing notes and sending cards. It’s the rest of the year that I focus on giving the unexpected gift.

The unexpected gift is something I give when people least expect it. For instance, a friend who has been sick I get them a massage and another who is often of her feet might get a pedicure. I’ll see a box of chocolates and know a woman who’d love them just as I know my book-loving friend might love something I just read. If a friend has been stressed I’ll look after her children for a day or I’ll offer to take her out for coffee and cake to just listen (the gift of time is always underrated). There are other friends I hardly get to see so I’ll take them away on a trip or send them on a plane to visit me and there’s my girlfriends at the store for whom I bring in treats once in awhile because there’s nothing like unexpected cupcakes to make girls swoon! Then there’s people I don’t know but whose blogs inspire me so much that I’ll send them something from their wishlist as a Thank you for posting.

In giving the unexpected gift, there is less pressure for both the giver and receiver and there’s more time to enjoy the act for both say in June than on December 23rd. For me, this became really important after I began to feel more and more stressed about the holidays and how commercial I felt they had become. I didn’t want to keep complaining without doing, and so I decided to stop buying and instead, start enjoying the time. I’d make it up in September by doing something personal for someone else instead.

What I’ve noticed about giving the unexpected gift is that the person that receives it seems to acknowledge it and enjoy it a little more because they don’t feel as though they have to “compete” or buy something back. There’s no “ok, they got me this for the holidays – now what do I give back?” The unexpected gift seems to have less strings attached and, to me, that’s what a gift is all about.