Have a Do-It-Yourself Christmas, so Start Crafting Now!

Make your Christmas presents this year. It’s more personal and you will save money. From a tin of homemade fudge to a colorful knitted scarf, your family and friends are sure to appreciate your hard work and thoughtfulness. You can also think bigger! Knit, sew, and quilt your way to a better world with the organizations below:

    *The Mother Bear Project gives hand-knit and crocheted bears to children affected by HIV/AIDS in emerging nations so they know that they are loved. (motherbearproject.org)

    *Socks For Soldiers knits socks for those on active duty serving in the Middle East (socksforsoldiersinc.com)

    *Stitching Up the World knits, crochets, and sews items to donate to chemotherapy patients, Special Olympic athletes, and others in New Hampshire. (candiawomansgroup.org/stitching/index.html)

    *Threads of Love provides clothing, blankets, and other handmade articles for premature and sick infants. Threads of Love has chapters in the United States, Canada and London, England. (threadsoflove.org)

    *Tiny Stitches is based in Gwinnett County, Georgia and provides basic layettes to disadvantaged newborns in north Georgia. They also provide burial ensembles to families who lose an infant. (tinystitches.org)

The Good Neighbor Policy

Bring your neighbor’s newspaper to their front door and leave a plate of homemade muffins next to it.

Treat People Well

Bring homemade goodies to work. For many of us, we work five days a week with the same people in the same office for the same amount of hours. What could be more uplifting than  arriving at work to the sight and smell of baked goods or snacks? Make something that most people would enjoy, such as chocolate chip cookies or banana bread. The work environment will become much more warm and inviting, and making others feel good is one of the true pleasures in life.

Roll Out the Welcome Wagon

Greet your new neighbors with a homemade housewarming gift. You’ll make a new connection and help them feel more at home. Good neighbors can last a lifetime and bring a real sense of community on a daily basis.

Help Those Who Help Themselves

    Empower an entrepreneur with a loan through Kiva. You can give as little as $25 to small business owners in developing countries to help eliminate poverty. Throughout the life of the loan, you will receive updates on the progress of the project and will be paid by the borrower with Kiva Credit- which you can use to fund another project. Through Kiva.org, I have bought some really lovely pillows, baskets, and bangle bracelets made in India by creative, hard-working women.

Blanket the World With Love

    Do you remember Linus of the venerated Peanuts cartoon? His love for his blanket shows how universal that love for just the right soft cloth can be. My mom and aunts are amazing quilters. They can seemingly take anything and make a gorgeous, collectible quilt from it. Even if you, like me, lack that “quilting gene,” you can blanket the world with your love and good intentions by collecting them for donation. I put a call out and got a ton of nice comforters to donate to Project Linus, at projectlinus.org. This nurturing organization sends cozy quilts and oh-so-warm blankets to kids in shelters, hospices, hospitals, and wherever the cloaking comfort of love might be needed. My mom recently made a quilt of some of my crazy outfits from the eighties, so I can only hope that the beneficiaries of Project Linus have a good sense of humor and a love of neon colors!

Tend Your Garden

    Grow your own garden, even if it is just on a stoop, window-sill, or fire escape. Fruits, vegetables, and herbs, oh my! Think of the recipe possibilities if your ingredients were right in your own backyard. Growing your own produce can save you money and time spent picking through the bruised and aged produce some grocery stores offer. This is also a great way to get organic!

Dad's Big Day

    On June 19, 1910, the governor of the state of Washington proclaimed the nation’s first Father’s Day. However, it was not until 1972, 58 years after President Woodrow Wilson made Mother’s Day official, that the day became a nationwide holiday in the United States. Celebrate your father today by making him feel special and loved with a homemade gift or meal. For your friends who may have lost their father, check in with them as this day may be difficult. Perhaps you can connect them with the many “rad dads” at senior centers who are elders with wonderful stories and few family members.

The Good Neighbor Policy

    Bring your neighbor's newspaper to their front door and leave a plate of homemade muffins and a bottle of hand sanitizer next to it.

Roll Out the Welcome Wagon

Greet your new neighbors with homemade housewarming gifts, like masks or brownies. You'll make a new connection and help them feel more at home. Good neighbors can last a lifetime and bring a real sense of community on a daily basis.

360 Degrees of Giving

     My favorite kinds of gifts are the ones that keep on giving. The FEED Project has many cool options that are made in America and crafted with love and pride. A beautifully carved cutting board for your best friend's birthday from FeedProjects.com will not only impress them but help feed the hungry. I love their FEED bags, which are a handy way to ditch the plastic and the paper, too.