The Homemade Holiday Guide

First, let us say we have nothing against technology. Although the Planned Obsolescence Sweepstakes seem to be raging with particular fervor this season, we have no doubt that a Chocolate Zune Wireless GPS MP3 RAZR Videophone would be a dandy gift for any right-thinking American consumer. But for this year's Holiday Guide, we decided to steer clear of mass-produced, trillion-units-sold, must-have items in order to focus, mostly, on some quieter pleasures: the intrinsic value of gifts dreamed up and constructed by individual humans.

Remember those lumpy clay ashtrays and rickety magazine racks you made for your parents when you were a kid? Undoubtedly amateurish, but your folks cherished them just the same because, well, they knew the artists. And that's part of the appeal of the handmade Florida gifts we're looking at in this issue; these are one-of-a-kind objects made by people you may very likely get to meet, whether at a gallery, at a studio, or at this week's Atomic Holiday Bazaar, which Cooper Levey-Baker reports on in our lead story.

The difference between what one makes as a kid and what these people devote their lives to making is, of course, vast -- take a look, for instance, at those eyeball necklaces from The 3 Sisters or the hand-printed T-shirts you can snag at local boutique everything but the girl. Certainly a step up from the old lumpy ashtray, but valuable for the same reason: an inimitable human touch.

Elsewhere in this year's guide, we follow two Creative Loafing writers as they make their own effort to find human connection during the holidays, despite the challenges of being alone or having to explain for the umpteenth time what Hanukkah is, and how to spell it. As always, Cooper rounds up as complete a list as you'll see anywhere of carol sings, lighted boat parades, multiple Messiahs and other events where humans will gather to celebrate just for the sake of celebrating. And, because we just couldn't help ourselves after writing about all these awesome handmade pieces, we held a crafting contest of our own.

Happy Homemade Holiday!

The Homemade Holiday Guide 2006

• Atomic Holiday Bazaar
• Sarah Maier, Fort Cloudy
• Yen Reed, Yen's little things
• Give and Get Gift Guide
• Make Something Contest
• Hanukkah daze
• The Unloved
• Holiday list