Why I love tacky homemade gifts

It might sound cliche or insincere - but I sure hope not.  

Homemade gifts, aka "tacky homemades" as my mother calls them, are the best gifts I receive.  It would be easier for the giftgiver to pick out something to spend big bucks on, especially at Christmastime when we're bombarded by sales and free shipping offers. The challenge of a homemade gift is giving something of yourself - and that is so much more valuable to me.

 Over the years I have received many from friends and family. 

They never cease to delight me.

Just setting them out reminds me of happy times.  Seeing them brings a smile to my face.  They range from the simple...

 ...to the complex, and are a special gift from someone's hands and heart.  The gifts from my mother are especially treasured - she puts her all into creating a thing of beauty.  Not tacky in the least.  Things made of thought, care, and love.

For her, it is a sincere expression - easier for her to do with her hands than her voice.  A handmade gift is like wearing your heart on your sleeve.  It requires work, forethought, creativity, really thinking of someone else, and it includes a little bit of you.

{It rarely snows here, but isn't my beanbag snowman perfect as a paperweight on my desk?  I love him and his cute little hat.  He will live here until Spring!}

 As the years go by, they become like heirlooms to me, and I guard them by making sure they are out of harm's way!

Here are some tacky homemades from  me:

I love creating a special gift, and receiving one, too.  Nothing tacky about that.