Structure

I have always been an early holiday shopper.  Perhaps it is my slightly OCD nature, my overwhelming need for structure in the place of perceived chaos.  It is not that I don't get a nostalgic kick out of Christmas lights strung on stately trees or the tinsel-y holiday decorations in shop windows--it's just that I can do without the mass marketing campaign, the horde of (sometimes inconsiderate) shoppers...and the holiday songs. 

To avoid the holiday chaos, I purchase and create throughout the year, with ideas generated from early on in 2012.  The funny thing is that it is inconceivable to me how most people (I am making an assumption here; please correct me if I am wrong) holiday shop during the actual holidays.  What if you see a gift that would be perfect for someone in let's say, April?  Do you hold off, or do you purchase and hold onto the gift for x-amount of months?  Perhaps people lose the gifts in the process, for it is a handful or more months from then to Christmas, you know?  I know.  Or shall I say, I am trying to know. 

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In truth, I take great pleasure in finding the "right" gift; this sentiment also extends to creating handmade gifts.  Not crafty in the traditional sense, I--for the most part--use materials that I already have laying around, both to conserve resources and to make some unique things.  Book pages, as you could probably tell from my shop, are my upcycled/recycled materials of choice. 

This year-round creating and perusing is, I like to think, hope to think, a trait of a meticulously creative mind. 

And nothing is wrong with that: perceived chaos, structure, and all.