Christmas?

So, for some reason my wandering mind has zeroed in on Christmas. I'm thinking about Christmas already! Maybe it's my subconscious yearning for cooler weather. Usually this Christmas contemplation happens in September when I start planning for gifts to give me plenty of weeks to prepare. Well, this time I was actually thinking about a new tradition I wanted to start in our family. I got the idea last Christmas at a friend's house.

Every day of December leading up to Christmas day, her children unwrap one Christmas movie. I don't have that many Christmas movies and don't really want that many, so instead I decided we could do Christmas books instead, supplemented with the movies we have and Christmas music CDs. (I actually buy new Christmas music every year. This year I'm getting Barbara Streisand's classic Christmas album I grew up listening to - my mom's fave. I can't wait!)

So, I happened to be at Goodwill and they had quite the selection of Christmas books! I bet if I had waited a month or two, they would have been gone. I wanted to focus on Jesus' birth, so I skipped most of the Santa books, making an exception for the classic "'Twas the Night Before Christmas" because it had gorgeous artwork. I'm a sucker for good artwork!

Speaking of art work, one of my most amazing finds was a pop-up book about the 12 Days of Christmas. The paper work is incredible!!! My jaw dropped as they got more and more complicated with each day of Christmas. And for 95 cents, that was a steal!!! I'll have to take picture of one of the pop ups just to show you what I mean.

So, when I got home I pulled the few Christmas books in the kids' regular book collection, added them to the stack and pulled out all our Christmas movies. My music is missing, but I think it might be in the Christmas tub. (That's right! My husband is adamant on keeping our Christmas things down to one large tub. Let me tell you, that is quite the feat for me. I LOVE Christmas!!)

Anyway, our Christmas movies are "White Christmas", "Little Women" (even though it's not all set during Christmas, it always makes me think about Christmas!), "The First Noel", "Mr. Kreuger's Christmas", "The Gift of Love" with Marie Osmond, "The Muppet's Christmas Carol", "A Child's Christmas in Wales",  and a few others. I even have some more movies on my wishlist on Amazon.

Wow, I had no idea I'd have so much to say about Christmas in August, but maybe I just need to get it out of my system. Another Christmas project: Sewing present drawstring bags out of Christmas fabric instead of using wrapping paper. I'll have to wait for an incredible fabric sale sometime in November though.

That's ok! I have tons of sewing projects stacking up. (Go to my historical blog at History:Preserved to see my costume projects.) I have 2 quilts in the works too, but I was waiting until cooler weather to continue on those. (One is a fall quilt with beautiful fall colors and seeing the new autumn fabrics at the fabric store is just killing me! I am just drawn to those earth tones!) Also, I just finished the last of the curtains needed for our house. Whew! I'm keeping my sewing machine busy! It feels good to be sewing again after a long haitus.