A Half-finished Christmas

Well guys and girls, Christmas is again very nearly upon us. I hope all your hand-made cards are in their envelopes, all your hand-made mince pies are in the oven and all your hand-made parcels are wrapped and under the tree? No? Well never mind – it’s time to take some time for yourself, relax and put your feet up. Take pleasure in the small things – I myself am particularly proud of the fact all my unmade and half finished presents are now organised into a box, labelled up and ready to come out next year to be finished (who am I kidding? – only myself - I’m sure this box of half loved parcels will haunt me for at least four more years). This cycle of un-finished presents has obviously been going for a while without me even noticing - I told my other half I was making my Mum a table cloth for Christmas this year and he responded with “but you always make and give your mother a tablecloth” – see, what he hasn’t actually noticed that it even though every year I say I will make a tablecloth and every year I find out the fabric I bought for the tablecloth, each year I run out of time or get distracted, by Jamie’s latest must do recipe or Kirstie’s latest must do make, and the sad tablecloth fabric gets silently put back in the cupboard through a cloud of shame.

So what does this tell us apart from you can take solace in the fact that there are definitely people out there (namely myself) with more unfinished present than yourselves? I think what it reminds us is that sometimes creative people can get caught up with the production line of making and forget about the fun. Making with deadlines in mind always has an underlying pressure. So for my New Year’s resolution I am going to alleviate this pressure – no more deadlines for me! I fact I have gone so far to resolved to make more things for myself and only for people who I really know will appreciate my love and time. What I resolved not to do under any circumstances is to say “yes I can whip one of those one for you!” to anyone rashly. I will make what I fancy, when I fancy and take time to enjoy the making........and if that box of half made parcels is still there next year and the year after so be it!

It only leaves me to thank all you guys out there for your support in the past year and to wish you all a cosy and creative Christmas and New Year, with lots of love from the whole team at The Eternal Maker

Rachael xx