I am super big on DIY presents for Christmas, a penchant born out of necessity rather than preference. Because there are a lot of people in my family and I am usually too broke to buy them actual presents. Over the years I have made necklaces out of felt and coloured paper, felt animal pen holders, tea bags, etc etc.
My most favourite of them all is the portraits I painted of my family. Unfortunately, everyone turned out looking really scary and nobody wanted to hang these on their walls so now my mum keeps them in a basket under a bunch of stuff to reduce the frequency that they are seen. I myself found them to be awful but the thing with DIY is that once you commit your time, energy, and pocket money to paint and canvas, there is no turning back.
LOL.
The holidays have long been a source of stress for me. My tendency to grossly underestimate the time taken to make these presents also adds to the chaos. I didn't have time to paint my sister's family portrait and when they saw the other portraits, politely told me "it's okay!"
Anyway, since I've been working and saving a little, I thought this year I'd actually go to the shops and buy proper presents like a normal person does. Until one day in late October, when Scott and I were in a Uniqlo standing in front of a bargain bin filled with white jeans, he came up with the most brilliant plan.
Being the sucker that I am for DIY stuff, I was immediately like, "YASSSS!" (We both had no idea what we'd just sign up for.) In the weeks leading up to Christmas, we converted Scott's dining and living area into Santa's workshop - tinsel, bells, paint, PANTS all over the place.
I highly recommend everyone in 'serious courtship' to undertake a long and tedious project together to discover the ways in which you complement and/or get in each others way when life gets long and tedious.
Project Christmas Pants required us to be innovative and smart about making it happen. Scott tends to be very chill, good at lightening the mood and getting stuff done while I stress about perfecting things. In the beginning, I would spend 1 hour sewing 8 bells around the hem and then 6 hours shading dinosaurs on Quinn's pants. In that same time, Scott would have done a dance, painted 5 pairs of pants, made dinner, and changed the bedsheets. At the end of the day, I usually get frustrated at having done so little and taking such a long time to do everything so Scott would have to give me a hug and pep talk. Then we'd eat cake and fall asleep while watching How To Get Away With Murder.
Anyway, happy holidays to all. May the new year be filled with more love and laughter.
Ps- these are the same white jeans we used for Halloween. We planned our Halloween costume around "white jeans" because we had 15 pairs sitting in Scott's cupboard. Who knew white jeans would come in so handy?
My most favourite of them all is the portraits I painted of my family. Unfortunately, everyone turned out looking really scary and nobody wanted to hang these on their walls so now my mum keeps them in a basket under a bunch of stuff to reduce the frequency that they are seen. I myself found them to be awful but the thing with DIY is that once you commit your time, energy, and pocket money to paint and canvas, there is no turning back.
LOL.
The holidays have long been a source of stress for me. My tendency to grossly underestimate the time taken to make these presents also adds to the chaos. I didn't have time to paint my sister's family portrait and when they saw the other portraits, politely told me "it's okay!"
Anyway, since I've been working and saving a little, I thought this year I'd actually go to the shops and buy proper presents like a normal person does. Until one day in late October, when Scott and I were in a Uniqlo standing in front of a bargain bin filled with white jeans, he came up with the most brilliant plan.
Being the sucker that I am for DIY stuff, I was immediately like, "YASSSS!" (We both had no idea what we'd just sign up for.) In the weeks leading up to Christmas, we converted Scott's dining and living area into Santa's workshop - tinsel, bells, paint, PANTS all over the place.
I highly recommend everyone in 'serious courtship' to undertake a long and tedious project together to discover the ways in which you complement and/or get in each others way when life gets long and tedious.
Project Christmas Pants required us to be innovative and smart about making it happen. Scott tends to be very chill, good at lightening the mood and getting stuff done while I stress about perfecting things. In the beginning, I would spend 1 hour sewing 8 bells around the hem and then 6 hours shading dinosaurs on Quinn's pants. In that same time, Scott would have done a dance, painted 5 pairs of pants, made dinner, and changed the bedsheets. At the end of the day, I usually get frustrated at having done so little and taking such a long time to do everything so Scott would have to give me a hug and pep talk. Then we'd eat cake and fall asleep while watching How To Get Away With Murder.
Anyway, happy holidays to all. May the new year be filled with more love and laughter.
Ps- these are the same white jeans we used for Halloween. We planned our Halloween costume around "white jeans" because we had 15 pairs sitting in Scott's cupboard. Who knew white jeans would come in so handy?
