This past weekend I got to participate in one of my favorite holiday traditions. The tradition I am speaking of brings you together with loved ones while allowing you to stab them in the back, laughter always outweighs the tears and in the end some people leave happy while others can’t help but feeling like they got screwed. No, I’m not talking about dinner with my parents (that emotional roller coaster doesn’t start until Christmas Eve), I’m talking about White Elephant! My roller derby team got together at a sleepover on Saturday night and we all showed up with unmarked wrapped gifts. If you’ve never played White Elephant before, this is how it works: Everyone who brought a gift draws a number and then each guest unwraps a gift in order of what number they have. The part that makes it fun is that instead of opening a new gift you have the option of stealing any gift that has already been opened. Gifts are “dead” on the third steal and stay in the hands of the 3^rd thief.

As the game went on it became obvious fairly quickly which gifts were the hottest commodities. Surprisingly, it wasn’t the Shake Weight, although it did get passed around the room several times to try out, no one dared to steal that one. The gifts that were stolen the most were not ones bought in the store (or the result of someone cleaning out their medicine cabinet, I’m looking at you DC), the most popular gifts were the handmade ones. A few hand knitted scarves, a cool up-cyled necklace and a framed painting of a roller skate were the items that had a room full of  20 and 30-something year old women plotting to make sure they were the ones to take home what they wanted no matter what the cost. Well, homemade items and a set of tiny velvet horse figurines from Wal-Mart. We play roller derby, we’re a little weird.

With the popularity of websites like etsy.com and craftster.com crafts like knitting, quilting, jewelry making and everything in between have lost their stale old-fashioned stigma over the past 10 years and have actually become not only cool they’ve allowed some people to turn their hobby into a way to make a living. There’s something about buying a handmade item even if it is made by someone I’ve never met that makes it feel more special. I know I’m not alone as what else would explain the ability of these DIY businesses to flourish during the worst economy in the past 50 years. As my friends battled it out on Saturday night for items made with love rather than made in China I found myself thinking about what kinds of gifts people really want to get this Christmas.

Oh, and in case you were wondering about the tiny velvet horses? They are sitting on my kitchen table right now, watching me as I type.

See you on the flip side,

Joy

PS: I’m a an avid etsy shopper, but I still get a huge kick out of Regretsy,  proof that crafting still has its downside. I suggest you check out both sites. Depending on what the craft of the day is on Regretsy, I can’t promise that it will be work safe.