Merepeka Raukawa-Tait: A salute to all home-made heroes

A jar of home-made chutney would be a top present

There are times when needs must. For the past two years, this young family "make or bake" their Christmas presents.

They sit down with their two children early in the New Year and pool their gift ideas for the next Christmas. They work out what they want to give as presents and what, if anything, they will need to buy.

They try to make everything themselves but there are always a few bits and pieces to buy. If they're giving a family photo, then one of them will make the picture frame. If they plan to give a basket of fresh vegetables from their garden, they figure out what needs to be planted and by when.

They make the gift baskets too. Jars of chutney and relish topped with a pretty chequered cloth are always in the present mix as are the children's framed art work carefully produced during the year. Their Christmas biscuit and cake bake-off happens early in December.

It's amazing how innovative and creative people can be when money is in short supply in the family.

This year, things could have been different. They could have gone out and bought presents for family and friends. This year, the father found a permanent full-time job. His first one after working at all, and any jobs that came his way in the past two years. That's how long it took him to find permanent work after being laid off at his last job.

But the family has decided they're quite happy to continue "make or bake" gift giving. It was the children who didn't want to abandon the arrangement. They enjoy the whole family planning and working together and they believe their home-made presents are just as well received as bought one. Who wouldn't want some yummy home-made relish or chutney?

But what a difference a job makes. Always a loving family and home, but now there is a lift, a lightness in the home.

This may seem slightly strange to those who have always been employed but, when money is tight in the home, it sometimes becomes quite gloomy. Something gets sucked out.

The family can get drained without realising it. When you constantly have to weigh up everything; can we or can't we afford it, should we buy now or put off indefinitely? When this goes on for too long everyone, including children, get affected.

So getting up in the morning knowing you have somewhere to go and something to do is important for most people. You are contributing. Even though you may be working for someone else, you are the one providing for your family.

I know these past two years have been difficult for the family. They have had to make a number of changes in their lives just so they could make ends meet.

The parents explained to their children why the changes were necessary. They were told it would only be for a short time, never thinking it would be two years before things started to turn around.

The father tells me he has the best children in the world. They never grumbled. They just all decided to hang together, believing "it's not what happens to you that counts, it's what you do about it".

This time of the year can be stressful for families, whether working or not. We are all looking at our present list and trying to see how we can stretch the dollars.

Would it be so bad if we received a "make or bake" present? For someone who loves it, but hasn't made chutney or relish for at least five years, a jar of either would be a top present for me to receive.

A present doesn't have to be expensive or a bought one either, surely it's the thought that counts.