Recycled Christmas is not going so great. Much as I don’t want to get caught up in the consumerist BS of the season, I don’t want to give people gifts they don’t want. And while my loved ones have been very tolerant of the silly things I’ve made for them over the years (like the ice rink “sculpture” I once made for my aunt out of a piece of mirror glass, a lot of cotton ball “snow”, and various scraps of plastic, sequin, and paper), I’m having trouble coming up with great ideas for people who are not children, babies, or women with style at least tangentially similar to mine.

I’m now alternating my “free” time between buying stuff and desperately trying to finish the gifts I’ve already committed to making. Quite obviously my time is rapidly winding down. It’s true that last year I did most of my gift-making in a mad final week rush, but I really didn’t intend to do that this year. I’ve been tracking ideas and making lists all year. I have hundreds of bookmarked project inspirations. I just never got it all sorted out and focused in on the actual making of holiday gifts. I somehow let December completely sneak up on me. I’ve spent the whole year planning and never coming up with an actualization strategy. Only a handful of gifts are complete, and I’ve only got a few days left before I’m on a plane to Virginia!

Since this is the first Christmas ever when I’ve had a halfway reasonable amount of actual money (not credit) to work with, I’m comforting myself and avoiding total panic with a plan to make donations in the names of friends and family members who I really think will appreciate it. I’d welcome your feedback in the comments about this. For the most part don’t you think that grown-ups value the knowledge that somebody did something good in their name? Like my Grandma, for example. She really and truly doesn’t need anything. In fact, one of the major stressors in her life is trying to keep up with all the stuff she does have. So I’m hoping she’ll be happy with a little token gift and evidence of a donation in her name to a cause I know she appreciates.