ONE of the funniest things I’ve had the joy to see in a long time happened yesterday. My art student daughter was painting a large canvas on the floor in the kitchen; our small puppy came roaring in, shot across the canvas, lost control of her pins and did a barrel roll in the wet paint. She galloped outside, cannoned in again through the cat flap and repeated the roll.

We were weeping with laughter, she was quite unconcerned, though not quite so keen on the bath that swiftly followed.

The question is, of course, why on earth Bella was slapping paint on a canvas in the middle of the kitchen floor, and I’m not convinced I know the answer, at least to the geography of the exercise. She might have been making a Christmas present: it is, after all, the season for it, and as she points out repeatedly, she’s a hard-up student and can’t afford much in the way of presents.

There seems to be a revival in giving things that are homemade, handmade or at least look handmade; a stroll around the Christmas market, full of punters, in Salisbury proves the point – and hurrah for that.

There has been a vast inflation in Christmas giving in recent years, of which we are all too well aware: toddler (and grown-up) tantrums for not getting the latest, hugely expensive gizmo are, alas, probably known to everyone.

There might, however, be a turn away from such materialism. In these uncertain times we do not want to spend all our pennies, but we still want to show how much we care for our loved ones. A card drawn by a child, dripping with glitter and glue, is far more precious than one out of a packet of ten; likewise a bag of biscuits, even slightly scorched around the edges, should be as well received as a fancy box of American cookies.

Even if you can’t make something (and I’ll bet you can) there are oodles of goodies to find in all the markets and craft fairs around the place. How can something mass-produced ever compete with something unique? And by buying something made or sourced by a local person you’re putting money back into the local economy, rather than into the hands of Mr Amazon and his ilk. I’m making presents for my friends and family, and they’ll be thrilled – I hope.

By Rose Eva, artist