Comments on: GIFTS & GIVING: “The Gift,” by Blake Seidenshaw

By: WEB FINDS: “Buy Handmade” « THESE NEW OLD TRADITIONS

WEB FINDS: “Buy Handmade” « THESE NEW OLD TRADITIONS — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 15:05:33 +0000

[...] the spirit of the recent comment discussions regarding bought -vs- handmade gift giving I thought I’d put a spotlight on the website [...]

By: miscellanie

miscellanie — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 12:35:07 +0000

I wonder if there are ways within the “profit-maximizing matrix” of our time to practice meaningful gift-giving (this seems to be the ilk of many of the comments here.) I hope so, as the matrix isn’t going to be busted anytime soon.

For me it comes down to thinking about those to whom I *want* to give–and stepping into these gifts wholly, rather than into the gifts I “should” dole out. We live in a culture of empty, obligatory gifts: to officemates, to family members we don’t totally appreciate, to friends or acquaintances who have given us something in a less than wholehearted way. As there is a profit-making matrix, there’s an empty gift-giving matrix appended to it. A shadow and rot in what’s “polite.”

I feel like I get closer to true gift-giving when I head this way: cutting out the chaff, embracing some rude self, giving only when I can fully get inside the giving.

By: Darien

Darien — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 23:07:44 +0000

I love giving people presents and in particular I like making presents, but sometimes buying someone something you know they’ll like as opposed to making them something that, while you enjoyed making it for them, they might not actually get anything out of, is the better thing to do.

I think a present you paid for can be just as special as a present you made yourself, but it should be something that’s special, something that the other person actually wants, not just a present for the sake of buying a present. I think the point of either making or buying a present for someone, whenever you’re doing it, should be to show how well you know that person and what their interests are, not just to try and prove that since you bought them something (or made them something), that automatically means you care about them.

By: blake

blake — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 19:45:51 +0000

yeah.. but lets be honest too; we all still buy stuff, all the time. We buy food, pay for shelter, pay for entertainment and education; we’re talking about an omniextensive system here, a common medium we use collectively, for communications of all these kinds… giving gifts, in my opinion, is one of the finest uses to which we can put this medium (i.e.$$); who doesn’t appreciate being given money? I bet even the richest folks crack smiles when their nanas send them a holiday card with a 20 tucked inside ; ) This thing cuts both ways, is what I’m saying; giving -precisely in the $ medium- is a way for us to twist the machine around to operate on itself. We turn it (back) to our own purposes, like making happiness, and building community, forging cooperative relationships, etc.
~just to complicate these notions a bit…

By: Onalistus Reveler

Onalistus Reveler — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 01:58:44 +0000

This year for our first New Old Yule Celebration we’re giving the gift of “good tidings.” We’ve each been given a random Reveler to learn about, and then send them into the night with a note honoring their best qualities.

Everyone gets a gift. No one spends any dough. And still kinda fun.

Will post on this after Dec 18th.

By: Shannon

Shannon — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 21:31:47 +0000

It interests me to see the stress and hardship of this time of year for many people, especially since most of it is self-imposed. We work and work the year away, and then the holidays come and we work longer and harder in order to… enjoy ourselves? That makes no sense to me. In my opinion buying “gifts” defeats the entire purpose of taking a holiday. We spend the entire rest of the year buying things. Time to take a break no?

By: myra e

myra e — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 14:06:28 +0000

making homemade gifts is a lot of fun, and it surely contributes to paring down one’s obligatory gift list. i probably wouldn’t celebrate presentmas, except that i have a kid. but still, we try to put the authentic back into our celebration as much as we can–even though neither of us are christian!