The 12 Days of Christmas

Five months from today is Christmas Day! From May 25th - November 25th I work on the 12 Days of Christmas gift I'm going to give my parents. I know they don't read this blog so I'm not ruining the surprise by writing about this year's theme.

This is my third year of giving them a TDofC gift. Each year I've come up with a different theme. The first and second years it was relatively easy to come up with something creative. This year was a little more difficult! I finally came up with the theme of "Christmas Joy".

See: C-H-R-I-S-T-M-A-S J-O-Y: 12 letters!

So for my clues I'm using vintage scrapbook paper and cutting it into the shape of each letter. They will be instructed to open the letters in the order they appear in each word.

I am fashioning a gift that starts with each letter. Here's what I have so far:

C- Homemade candy
H- Harkins Theatre cups & gift card
R
I
S- Stocking for mom
T
M
A- AMC movie gift card
S- Stocking for dad
J- Nativity plate (stands for Jesus)
O- ornament
Y

As you can see I need to come up with gifts for several of the letters. The one that really stumps me is the "Y". If you have any ideas, please send them my way. Actually if you have ideas for any of the letters, I'd love to hear them.

Other than working on the TDofC gift today, I'm stitching my fingers to the bone. I'm starting to get panicked about all of the stockings I need to make this year. Yikes! What was I thinking?!

I'd love to hear from you about what you're doing to get ready for Christmas!

Five Months and Counting

Christmas Eve is five months from today. When I look into the future my hope is that Christmas Eve will find me feeling satisfied. I will have already experienced my family Christmas. I will have attended the events I want to attend. I will have driven around local areas looking at Christmas Light displays. I will have baked all the goodies I intended to bake. I will have spent time with family and friends. I will be anticipaing a private Christmas with Dan, just the two of us opening gifts. I will be prepared (maybe) to have some of the kids and other family over on Christmas Day. Or we may be choosing what movie we want to attend on Christmas Day.

I will be content.

Christmas in July - update

July is half over. Time to pause and evaluate my progress. Whew! That's easier said than done. With the anticipation and then the birth of our first grandson three days ago, I've been mighty distracted from all things Christmas. I have managed to make some progress toward a stress-free holiday.

Stockings - I mentioned in an earlier post that I need to make eight Christmas stockings this year. I have one completed and two in progress. I had to take a quick break to cross-stitch a birth sampler for our new grandbaby.

Stocking stuffers - I have the bags for the stocking stuffers lined up on the window seat in the kitchen and I am filling them with the items I've already purchased.

Shopping - I carry my shopping list with me every where I go. That way when I see something I think someone requested, I can check my list and purchase it on the spot. My method pays off. I am finished with one person on my list. Yay! Only 11 people left to go...

Decor - I showed up at my local Hallmark store bright and early Saturday morning to pick up the ornaments I had pre-ordered. I will be there again in Sept. and Oct. to pick up more ornaments. I really like to use Hallmark's pre-order option. I stick to my budget. And although it can be a shock to spend that much at once, I realize that I'm not impulse buying every time I step into the store the rest of the season!

Music - I have been so bummed this year. The "sound of the season" music channel on our cable system did not play Christmas in July music. No worries. I've been playing my own collection of Christmas music and enjoying every minute of it!

Thanks for stopping by. As always, I'd love to hear about your holiday preparations, traditions, decor ideas, and recipes. Please share...

Taking a Quick Break from Christmas...

...to introduce you to the newest member of our family! His blog name is Thunder and he was born on July 15, 2011 at 9:36 am weighing in at 6 lb. 13 oz. - 20.5 inches long. I am one proud Grammy!

The Man of the Hour - a few minutes old

Grammy, Mommy, Thunder

Sunny giving Thunder a bye-bye kiss

Christmas in July - Shopping

My Christmas shopping is coming along well. This past week in particular I scored several gifts for family members. Sorry, no pictures. I want them to be surprised when they open them!

If you're in the need of new Christmas decor this year, check out Hobby Lobby. I was in there about a week ago and their aisles are filling up with Christmas items. I saw several things that I want to purchase for my Christmas trees. There's also some cool new colors of balls this year. I love black ornaments and they had some new black designs.

When I'm not shopping, I'm focused on cross-stitching stockings for this year. I have one completed. Seven to go. I know. I'm nuts. I doubt if I can finish them all, but I'm doing my best to try to!

completed... needs to be finished

Today I plan to wrap and store the gifts I purchased this week. We are on intense baby watch and I find myself easily distracted!