Have You Ever Done Such a Thing?

My better half and I were coming home from shopping yesterday, and as usual, were listening to the radio. I love this time of year as you can find stations that play nothing but Christmas music, 24 hours a day. The DJ caught my attention when he asked "Have you ever bought Christmas presents that didn't make it to under the Christmas tree?" It was the intro for a commercial for a security system, but it reminded me of an event that happened when my children were little.

I'm not the most organised person in the world. Are you surprised? Well, this one particular year, I was determined to change, so I went out Christmas shopping in September, instead of waiting for the last minute. I didn't buy everything on my list, but filled two shopping bags with my purchases. I brought them home, wrapped them up, and then hid them.

This is the important part of the story. My son, when he was growing up, was the best gift seeker I've ever known. I had to be extremely clever in finding hiding places, or he would not only find every present, but many times, he'd share with every one else what they were getting as well.

I really outdid myself when I hid those gifts. As Christmas approached, I bought and wrapped more toys and clothes, and then did an inventory of the various piles. I couldn't understand why there weren't more gifts. Yes, I can see the light dawning, I forgot about the gifts I had bought way back in September! So I went out and bought more things to make up for my shortcoming.

It wasn't until the following June, when we were packing up the apartment preparing to move, when way back in the top of the closet, we found the bags of forgotten Christmas presents! We had an unexpected 'Christmas in June' that year, and my kids haven't let me live it down to this day.


Speaking of toys, this is my latest - a crochet snow-yo man! I found the pattern here: Gardener's Ramblings

It's Beginning To Look a Lot Like...

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas here, at least inside the house. I don't think I'll ever truely get used to a green Christmas like we have here in Florida, but I do appreciate not having to deal with shoveling snow off of the sidewalks and driveway, or having to scrape ice off the windshield of the car before driving any where.

I thought I'd share a little of what I've been up to, holiday-wise. This is our 2010 Christmas tree so far. Did I happen to mention that I love Christmas? My beloved and I have a tradition of setting up the tree on Thanksgiving Day, and we usually do each years tree in a color theme. This year, it's red, white, and green, just in case you couldn't tell.
These are two of the oldest ornaments on our tree. I don't remember where or even when we purchased them, but they are hand crocheted (I believe) and I adore them. I am big on handmade/homemade/crafty things. As we hung our ornaments this year, I was thinking, 'I wish I had more ornaments like these!' (We only have three angels and two doves like these.) Since money is very tight this year, I knew better than to try and shop online for more.

The good news is, I DO know how to crochet, and there are hundreds of free patterns for crocheted ornaments and decorations available on the internet. I turned to one of my very favorite websites, http://www.crochetpatterncentral.com/directory.php , for assistance in my search.






This is a Lacy Angel Ornament that I found at CrochetMemories
While she is not like the tinier angels we purchased, I think she has a beauty all her own.














And this is just one of several Star in a Star ornaments that I made from a pattern I found at jpfun.com . I actually made over twenty of these pretty little stars in red, white, and green, but most of them went to my granddaughter, Brianna's Girl Scout Troop for gifts at their Christmas party.

I thought you might like a close up view of the crocheted dove ornaments.
Close up of one of the purchased angel ornaments.

This is the latest ornament to hang on our tree. It's a Bell Flake, and I found the pattern at my newest favorite website, Snowcatcher. She designs the most amazing crochet patterns, and I wish I could show you more of what I've made from her work, but unfortunately, I've sent them out as Christmas gifts. The nice thing about her crocheted snowflakes are they can fit right inside a greeting card, and be mailed. If you don't put too many snowflakes in the envelope, you don't even have to pay extra postage!

Forgive my funky formating in this post, please. I'm trying Picasa to upload and blog, and it didn't load all the photo's I selected the first time. I'll try and post more of the ornaments I'm making as I complete them.

Until then, I want to wish all a very happy and healthy holiday season!