It's Beginning to Feel A Lot Like Christmas

So I'm a purist too, and don't decorate for Christmas til the Thanksgiving carcus is picked clean, but you can't wait that long to get started, can you? If there really were elves, wouldn't that be slick? Then we could all sit around eating sugar cookies and watching 'It's A Wonderful Life'.

But there aren't. (Although Caiden and I agree, hands down, that Elf is our all-time favorite Christmas movie.) I'm still trying to figure out why, during the craziest years, I always, always get a hankering to make most of the gifts we give. Doesn't make a lick of sense, but seems to work that way.

Have we had a crazier year than this one? Well, a few but this one still ranks up there with zooville, so of course I'm in the mood to bake and knit and sew and the list is ridiculously long.

I started knitting a scarf that buttoned, ran out of yarn before it would go halfway around anyone's neck, and out of sheer stubbornness refused to throw it away, so it's going to become a sassy lined clutch! My collection of antique buttons will be just the thing to give them some zing, all five of them, because I'm crazy that way. If I get bored, I'll use this book to whip up a few different ones.

And the file folder you see - first of all life is just too short not to use pretty file folders. Second, it holds my annual Excel Christmas spread sheet. I've used it for years and it never fails me. I just save it on my computer then the next year pull it up, rename it, revise it and I'm off to the races with Christmas plans. Years ago, when the kids were little, I wrote my list in shorthand which bugged the daylights out of all of them, which made it more fun for me. One in awhile, throughout the year, I'd make an entry into the checkbook in shorthand, but we won't talk about that.

If you happen to drop by our place for coffee, don't be expecting to find a place to sit - we're creating! And that little bear who is still missing her legs (and face), oh my goodness am I having fun making her or what? She's for someone super special.

Here are a few great links if you're in the mood to make gifts this year.

This is an adorable felted clutch - you could buy a wool sweater at the second hand shop if you're not a knitter.

Here's a fabulous link for more purses than you can shake a stick at - made up all sorts of ways. I can't wait to try a few.

These two links are for knitted caps from Lion Brand Yarn's website - one is a snowflake and the other is a snowman. I'm pretty sure I have to make one of each, or how cute would it be for all the grandkids to have matching ones? BTW, I signed up for the Lion Brand online newsletter and it's full of all sorts of free patterns you can download.

Notice to all males in the family who might happen to read this blog - not to worry. I'm well aware Bass Pro and Cabelas's gift cards beat the daylights out of anything I might whip up from a skein of yarn.... although if I did, it'd for sure be green, obviously.