my brother Josh & I, circa 1985
I was five.
This was the year my dad decided to quit his job & go into business for himself as an electrician. Before this, he had worked at a hardware store since he graduated high school & a few months before I was born. He had gotten so good at giving people exactly what they needed for every electrical job that used their store to buy their supplies that they put him in charge of that portion of the company.
My dad knew he had a gift, an unlearned, self-taught gift of getting it. It was intuitive. He followed that, despite not having any schooling, him & his partner, also unschooled, wired houses all over our area. They were good at what they did, mix that with their kindness & good sense of humor– & word of mouth traveled fast.
Over the years my parents owned more than a few businesses. They DJed weddings every weekend when I was 8; I had an insanely huge music collection at my disposal. My dad repaired TVs & VCRs for awhile; I watched him help people. He’s been the tech support for a small local internet company; I listened to him practicing patience. My mom’s made wedding cakes, gourmet candy for events & holidays, has held jewelry parties selling pieces that she created & has crocheted up all kinds of goodness; I watched her being creative, beautiful & believing in her work.
They did all of this out of our home.
These are my roots & it explains so much about who I am today.
But back to that Christmas, the beginning of my parent’s entrepreneurial journey…
I didn’t know this until I was much older but we didn’t have that much to spend that season.
The chalkboard desks my brother & I are sitting at in the photo were built by my dad’s hands because of this.
I remember thinking how cool these desks were, just the right size for both of us, they were customized, I loved mine to pieces.
Out of all 30 of the Christmases that I lived through, this & the scarf set my mama crocheted for me, are my most memorable & loved gifts.
As I grew older I realized that my dad put his heart into building those desks for us, which made me love them even more.
He also put his heart on the line.
Being creative, no matter the medium, & giving our gifts to anyone &/or the world, is vulnerable.
There was a chance that we could have shrugged those desks off, all his hard work. Even though we were so young, I’m sure it would have stung a little had that happened.
I’m learning though, if you really put your heart in it & out there, no matter what it or the outcome is, you will grow & learn from it.
If you go in big, you usually get big back – & if you don’t, settle into why that’s not okay with you & reshape it.
Your heart, ultimately, no matter how much you put it into things or people or situations or relationships, is always in your own hands.
So, on a lighter note, I put together a roundup of sweet DIY gifts that you can put your heart into this holiday, if you wish!
DIY Heart SweatshirtDIY DreamcatchersDIY Felt Flower Crown HeadbandDIY Sweater Elbow PatchesDIY Typographic String ArtDIY Wrap BraceletDIY TightsDIY Birdie Fringe PurseDIY Doily LampDIY Bow GarlandDIY Ruffle Shirt
DIY Mustache Mug
DIY Photo Globe
DIY S’mores Kit
DIY Mini S’mores Grill
Super-Duper Free Printable Holiday Gift Tag Roundup
Christmas Tea Bag Gift Tags
Festive Bow Toppers
I hope this inspires you to create your own memorable Christmas for you & your loved ones. Maybe if you have bigger little ones you can recruit them to help & instill in them the memory of a joyful & full-of-heart handmade Christmas.
Love,
PS A few of my favorite thoughtful & handmade gifts posts that I’ve shared on Kind Over Matter are : Gifts for the Group, the Surprise Ball & a Printable Affirmation Kit! Enjoy!
I LOVE this post amanda! I can remember my mother in law saying that your father installed there first dish so many years ago, i never knew he did that! I had no idea that your parents did all of that, which is so crazy cuz ive known you for like ever! lol.
Handmade and gifts that have labor and love are the best. I hope my children grow up seeing that as you have
Thank you so much Amy & for commenting! My parents have dabbled in SO many ventures, I didn’t even list them all.
Aside from weddings, they also DJed some of the local bars – my dad was such a huge help when Josh’s band prepared to do the same. 
Learned so much by watching them.
That makes me happy that your littles will
Sending love to you! <3
oh no problem, this post literally brought tears to my eyes! i love it! That is soo admirable that they tried out so many means of income,in things that they loved to do! Yea i never knew about the dj thing! thats so cool! Awe yea i can imagine he was!
Oh my i bet you did!
Thanks amanda sending much love back to you all as well!
Such a timely reminder for the holiday season!
The “gifts” I remember the most are the experiences – the mud bath spa day my boyfriend took me to for a birthday, the little bell my brother brought to me when I was sick in bed (to be rung whenever I needed him), the back scratching party amongst myself and my parents before bed growing up…these gifts will never break nor be forgotten.
That picture melted my heart. I have wished and longed to be able to do more with my hands than I can. Suddenly I am realizing that the one or two simple things i can do, I should just do more of, and stop worrying about doing more. Because I’m not that great at them and it is OK!
xo
Awesome. This brought back memories of my own childhood. My dad didn’t make much money as a low ranking Marine, but our parents never let us feel that there wasn’t a lot of money to go around. One year, my dad made us a large toybox and my mom painted Sesame Street characters on it.
To this day, my favorite gift is a little keychain with one of those voice recorders on it. My mom recorded “Merry Christmas son, I love you” on it. It still brings tears to my eyes when I listen to it.
First time on your blog, what a beautiful post. I don’t even know you and I almost cried because I can relate to your story so much. We live in a world where our children get so much stuff! We have tried to change this. I hope my children understand the love that has went into many handmade gifts. My husband made a version of the American Girl Doll RV camper that was several hundreds of dollars in last years catalog. It was the gift she asked Santa for but Santa couldn’t afford. BUT Santa delivered a beautiful hand made to scale look a like. Yes, it’s not perfect and sometimes the sink knob falls off and Daddy repairs it…but I hope one day she understands the love that went into crafting that gift.