(HOST) As a teacher and writer, commentator Deborah Luskin places a high value on creativity and the personal touch – a sentiment that even influences her gift-giving.
(LUSKIN) This year I’ve decided to give my family the gift of time by hanging out with them during the holidays. That works at home, but what about my friends? I’m not a scrooge. I like to give gifts. I just don’t like to shop – not for groceries, not for clothes, not for cars. Shopping takes time away from things that I do enjoy, like my work, cooking, housekeeping, gardening, playing outdoors and reading.
I especially dislike shopping between Thanksgiving and Christmas, during the holiday frenzy. Despite advertising, I doubt there’s any one thing that can make me happy, slim, sexy, fit, smart, rich or relaxed – any one thing that’s for sale, that is. I’m not going to find it on the shelf of a nifty boutique any more that I’ll find it discounted at a big box store.
Sure, I like beautiful things. I also like bargains. As with an open box of cookies, however, I try to resist. I know that if I give in and buy something I neither need nor want, the flush of acquisition will quickly fade, leaving me poorer, both in wallet and spirit, just as eating those cookies will satisfy a momentary lust while leaving me with a significant calorie surplus to regret.
And I don’t want to resist the spirit of the holidays, which is often expressed by giving. In fact, my dislike for shopping puts me at odds with my desire to bestow small gifts on friends whose kindnesses have helped me through another year.
Sending cards is a lovely tradition, but it doesn’t always satisfy me. Over the years, I’ve tried different approaches, including the one-size-fits all gift. As if I were a small corporation, I’ve dealt out calendars, subscribed to fruit-though-the-mail schemes, and made contributions to do-good non-profits on others’ behalf. But none of these mass-gift plans are really personal, so I gave jars of honey until bears began to raid my bee hives.
Now I’ve turned to jam-making, big-time. As soon as the rhubarb and strawberries ripen, I go into production. Next, I process raspberries until my hands are stained. This year, we had an added bounty of wild grapes, which I picked, mashed, cooked, strained, jelled, jarred and labeled. These are things I like to do. I especially like thinking about who I will be giving these jars to come Christmas, even as I’m stirring the jam pot in June.
When I give one of these jars, I’m giving someone my labor of love-for I love the gardening and tending and processing that results in something so sweet.
But I also like to think that I’m giving a taste of the summer past and the summer to come. These holidays, after all, aren’t just a celebration of winter. They celebrate the return of light and life in the new year.
Deborah Luskin teaches writing and literature to non-traditional students in hospitals, libraries and prisons throughout Vermont.