Don’t throw out your damaged decorations just yet!

So, have you started decorating your home for Christmas yet? I love digging into my many boxes of decorations – collected over the span of 27 years! Because I shop the after-Christmas clearance sales, I always find surprises that I don’t remember—they’re like early Christmas gifts for me and my family! Those are fun, but I cherish the old ornaments—those that have been handed down from my family, those I bought new, and those “antique” ones I bid on at an auction long ago. So many memories are held in those old ornaments—even the whimsical plastic and Styrofoam ones of the 50s and 60s!

As you unpack your ornaments and decorations, you may come across some damaged ones—broken, dented, chipped, or just loose. You may be tempted to toss them in the garbage. Don't be so hasty! Damaged decorations still may have life in them. Look at them with a creative eye. Can pieces be glued back together? Can they be touched up with permanent markers or even nail polish? That cheap nail polish at the dollar store isn’t just for nails, you know! The metallic shades are great for covering tiny blemishes on ornaments. Maybe a damaged decoration can be taken apart and re-purposed. Could parts of a damaged decoration or ornament be used in handmade Christmas cards or to decorate your gifts to make them look extra-special under the tree? Can pieces be attached to a Christmas wreath?

Hmmm, that reminds me … I have an old, brown plastic candle ring that was in a box lot that I got 27 years ago. I’ve held onto it because it’s old and isn’t taking up too much space in my box of retro stuff. Every year I glance at it and wonder what the manufacturer was thinking, making a brown Christmas candle ring! I think I’ll spray paint it silver and put a red candle in the center—or a glass globe filled with candy. I already have those things, so it won’t cost me anything to create a new end table centerpiece!

If the effort just seems too great, maybe you could give the project to someone artistic in your family. If that person simply doesn't exist, then please donate your old decorations to the local thrift store where I might find them. *grin* Crafty people will be on the lookout for them! Better there than in the landfill!  


Happy Creative Christmas!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas ... in the stores and Up North!

Some of my Canadian friends are currently enjoying snow up to their tushies! Well, enjoying may be a bit too strong of a word choice ... and tushies is an exaggeration ... but you know what I mean. Winter wonderlands are magically appearing! Christmas must be just around the corner! It's definitely arrived (along with Santa) in the mall!

If you are going to send Christmas cards, NOW is the time to print out your labels, or hand-label your envelopes—if you are one of those personal-touch people. (I'm not. I'm a quick and easy and typed-is-easy-to-read kinda gal.) Finish (or start) your fun and informative, one-page Christmas newsletter. Get your cards ready to mail out on November 30! That's right, set that bar high and let everyone turn green with envy at how organized you are! Plus, if your cards are ready to go that early in the season, you are guaranteed to have your pick of the holiday stamps available at the post office!

NOW is also the time to start gathering the special ingredients for your holiday goodies. Look over your recipes (did you remember to choose a few new ones to try this year?) and make a list of what you'll need. Do you remember the sick feeling you got last year when you ran to the store a few days before Christmas for those peanut butter chips you needed for your famous double decker fudge, and you discovered that the entire inventory had been wiped out already? (Or was that just me?) Don't let that happen to you again. Or, if you are not at home in the kitchen, then now is still a good time to stock the freezer with store-bought holiday goodies. You want to get them while they are available—not stand in front of an empty store freezer with a tear in your despairing eye later in December!

Have you been stocking your Christmas closet/cabinet/hiding place with gifts throughout the year? Now is a good time to take stock of what you have and what you still want to make or buy for gifts. Now is also a good time to wrap the gifts you have. No more Christmas Eve all-nighters, wrestling with rolls of wrapping paper and Scotch tape till that inevitable moment when you lose it and begin carelessly cramming gifts into gift bags— whether they fit or not and even if you ran out of tissue paper to tuck in there! That activity does not a good Christmas Day, or Christmas photos, make!

Finally, consider the possibilities of charitable giving. Gift Tag Trees are going up throughout our communities. My church already put up the missionary Christmas tree. My daughter has already claimed an envelope from the tree and returned it! A local restaurant has a sign out letting us know the date for their annual toy drive. Other stores have Christmas trees featuring tags that list a child's age and the toys on that child's wish list. Many organizations collect donations for children, for the elderly, and for other needy people in general.

When money is tight, you can give of your time instead. Volunteers are needed to sort, package, and deliver Christmas collections. Go caroling in a nursing home. The Salvation Army needs bell ringers! Use your talents to bless others this holiday season. There are so many possibilities. Christmas is the season of giving.

Leave me a comment and tell me what you have finished, what you have left to do, or what you love most about Christmas! I would love to hear from you!

It's the end of October, and you know what THAT means ...

Court Jester and his Renaissance Sister

There will be Halloween clearance sales, of course! What did you think I was going to say—that Christmas is just around the corner? Pshaw, you already know that!


Anyway, if you have any children on your gift list who love to play make-believe, you can find some fun items for a costume/dress-up kit! When I was a child, I would have loved to have sparkly tutus and tiaras, gloves, and wands, any princess-y thing there was to be had! Hats and capes and other fun things will spark children's imagination—and maybe they'll put on a skit for you!

It's October 1! And in case you haven't checked, there are just 84 days till Christmas!

Ready or not, here it comes–the holiday season is fast approaching! Thanksgiving will arrive in 53 days, and many of us start celebrating the Christmas season the next day! (Some of us start even earlier; I know of a few people who start putting up their Christmas trees and other home decorations two or three weeks before Thanksgiving!)

Even though December 25 is still 84 days away (as of Oct. 1), you don't really have 84 days to prepare. To have time to relax and enjoy the season of joy, you should have your plans and preparations wrapped up (pun intended – tee hee) earlier than that. The sooner the better!

Since money is tighter than usual this year, I've been earning gift money by using Swagbucks.com. I plan to finish shopping with my "free" money by Dec. 1. I'm so excited that I can do that! (That money also paid for my daughter's graduation gifts and birthday gifts this year.) My daughter and I discovered some new recipes for yummy treats that we're going to enjoy and give as gifts. Our Christmas cards are sitting in the craft closet where we'll easily find them when it comes time to send them out. Things are progressing pretty well for us.

How about you? Tell me what you've planned and/or accomplished so far this year that will make this the best Christmas ever! (To my friends and family with new bundles of joy: having a baby or grandbaby counts as an accomplishment! Babies always make the holidays extra special!)

Christmas Countdown!

Hey, y’all! (Even though I’m from the Midwest, I sometimes say “y’all” for fun because I’ve lived in the South for more than half my life.)  As of today, September 6, it is 109 days till Christmas, and 84 days till December 1! I placed a handy-dandy countdown generator at the top of my page so that you can keep track. It snows in the generator more than it snows down South, so I may spend a lot of time here, just staring at the snow. *giggles*

The purpose of “Christmas All Year Long” is to encourage you to prepare in advance for the biggest and busiest holiday season of the year so that when December arrives, your busy work will be done, and you can enjoy the celebration and spend time relaxing or playing or whatever you want to do with your family and friends.  No more frantic shopping trips! No more late night baking, wrapping, decorating, and crying! No more regrets and sighs of “maybe next year ...”  Now is the time! This is the year! So what are you waiting for? Pull out your Christmas to-do list (or make one) and choose something to work on this week!

How Do You Take Advantage of the Back-to-School Month, Christmas-wise?

High school and college students return to school this month – or at least prepare to do so. Bargains are easy to find as stores create sales to lure shoppers inside. If you have a plan, you can shop without going overboard. You should have a list of people with whom you will exchange gifts as well as your ideas for what those gifts should be. This is one way to take advantage of back-to-school month. With all the penny specials at office supply stores, you can stock up on some interesting stocking stuffers - what kid doesn't love pencils, markers, or fun erasers? If there are any artists in your family, you can create the same kind of activity kit that my mom used to make for nieces and nephews. Items like crayons, colored pencils, markers, stencils, paper, scissors, glitter glue, and construction paper can make a young artist's eyes light up on Christmas morning. Much of it is on sale now!

So, shopping the sales is one way to take advantage of August in preparation for the winter holiday season. What is the other way? It's to take advantage of your newly-free time – if you have kids and are a SAHM or a parent with a part-time job. (This is possible only if your kids go off to school. Homeschooling families won't benefit from this idea, as it is rare to get a break from the kids.) Anyway, I know some moms who heaved a big sigh of relief as the kids left for school and then wondered what they would do with their free time – beyond the usual cooking, cleaning, and errand-running, of course. Before you fall into a routine, pull out your Christmas plans and get organized! Take stock of your gift closet/cabinet/hiding place. What do you have? What do you need?

Me and My Mom having
some Christmas Fun

Kids or not, use the remainder of the month to think through your holiday plans. Where are you going to spend Christmas? Will you host a party? Are you sending Christmas greetings? Are you making a newsletter?

Remember, your goal is to be "ready" for Christmas before December arrives. That way, you can spend the season doing what you love with the people you love instead of scurrying around in a panic trying to pull it all together only to collapse in a heap on the couch at the end of each day. No more New Year's Day regrets about what didn't get done. No more sighs of "oh well, maybe next year ..."  This is the year to be prepared!

August Means Back-to-School Bargains ... and Christmas shopping!

In my state, and maybe yours, it’s a tax-free weekend for school-related merchandise. You can find a list of items online that are included and excluded from this special money-saving holiday. Such items include your usual pencils, paper, crayons, and other educational materials and also things such as clothing, clothing accessories, shoes, school supplies, computers, printers, blankets, bedspreads and linens, bath cloths, bath towels, bath rugs and mats, shower curtains, pillows and pillow cases are included (for college-bound students). See any possible Christmas gifts in that list?

Exclusions include jewelry, cosmetics, eyewear, wallets, watches, 
furniture, items for use in a business, and items placed on layaway, so 
you're out of luck if visions of these items danced tax-free in your head. However, sometimes stores vying for your dollars will offer similar discounts on non-education-related items in 
order to make sales, so you may be in luck after all!

Anyway, if you haven't already stocked your gift closet with items for December giving, you might consider shopping this weekend. Not only will you save sales tax (if you shop in a state 
that participates), but as the third largest shopping weekend of the year, you may discover 
stores competing for sales with some additional sales! (The other two big-deal shopping times are the weekend after Thanksgiving and the time before Christmas.)

Christmas (Newsletter) in July

Christmas in July? You bet!

Here in the Sunny South, I enjoyed a day in July (the15th, to be exact) when the temperature OUTSIDE never made it out of the 60s! What a delightfully chilly departure from those high 90s where just taking a breath was enough to make one break into a sweat! The next day started out chilly as well before the mercury inched its way up to 79. It was like a memory of early spring and an advance taste of late fall, all rolled into one day! As I shivered and slid into a jacket, I thought, “It’s a perfect Christmas in July day!”

Now we’re back to the normal sweltering days of summer, but at least we can escape indoors and set our minds on Christmas! Turn on the A/C, sip something cold and refreshing, and dig out a Christmas CD for the appropriate holiday mood. :) (Right now I’m listening to Santa Baby. It always makes me grin. Marilyn Monroe didn’t sing it, but it would have fit  her sultry style.)

A few weeks ago, a blog friend announced that she had begun working on her Christmas newsletter. Way to go, Linda! This is where I generally fall short. Like most who write them, I wait until the end of the year to put my newsletter together, and then I have trouble recalling the highlights of the year. Plus, I get busy and distracted, and before I know it, my cards are going out late because it took me a while to get my newsletter “wrapped up.”

Take a break from the heat and think about your own newsletter. What have been the highlights and low points of the first half of the year? Devote one to three sentences to each idea. If you are one of those who like themes, brainstorm for something fresh for this year. Store your notes for later. When you are ready to finish your letter and make copies, you'll be glad that you got half the job done early this time.

TIP #1: Restrain from typing joyously in all caps and using multiple exclamation points, especially when bragging about the talented so-and-so’s who are your children. A simple “So-and-so continues to earn high marks in school” gets the same message across as “WE ARE SO PROUD OF OUR LITTLE ANGEL’S STRAIGHT A’s AND ALL THE TALENT THAT DRIPS FROM EACH FINGER AND TOE!!!! WE’RE SO VERY BLESSED!!!! GOD OBVIOUSLY LOVES US MORE THAN YOU AND YOUR LITTLE DISASTERS!!!!” without taking up as much space or being quite so obnoxious.

TIP #2: Don’t shy away from being real. We all have our struggles. Honesty goes a long way in strengthening bonds. Briefly share a disappointment, knowing that your recipients will likely be able to relate.

TIP #3: Include a few photos. Make sure that YOU are in at least one photo. You say you feel self-conscious about how you have aged? Well, make it a small picture! Anything is better than photos of just the kids or the pets. We can assume that the recipients of your newsletter are people who love you and see your inner beauty shining through. You may not see it, but we do. I promise!

ALTERNATIVE IDEA:  You say you aren’t a writer? Holiday newsletters make you shudder? Okay, fine. Don’t start a newsletter. But you aren’t off the hook this month. Instead, you can focus on a photo to include in your Christmas cards, or maybe a photo that you will use AS a Christmas card! Consider dressing up in Christmas hats or sweatshirts or just Christmas colors. Consider creating a backdrop by hanging a solid piece of fabric up or digging out the garland and quickly decorating something with it. If you have a Christmas tablecloth, it might make an interesting backdrop. It won’t take a lot of time to make the effort. Honest! Get a friend or a timer to snap a family shot for you so that you will be in the picture. Put on a Christmas CD. You'll be doing more than creating a holiday photo; you’ll be making a memory. :)

Summer Boredom a Problem?

Bored Kids with Nothing to Do

School has only been out a short time, but I know kids have already started complaining that they are bored – some were moaning on their first day at home! Because I’m connected to a number of teenagers (that I know in real life) on Facebook, I’ve seen their pitiful wails. “I’m BOREDDDDDD!!!!! Somebody text me!!!!!!!!”

This month’s tip involves giving Christmas projects to those poor kids who have nothing to do. (You say you have no kids at home? Is it too hot for you to enjoy the outdoors? Then these projects are for you!)

Summer is a great time to decorate your own Christmas wrapping paper with white butcher paper and paint. You can work with stencils or sponge shapes or even go freestyle. One year my kids took star-shaped sponges and dabbed red, green, and gold paint on sheets of white butcher paper. I used the paper to wrap gifts and finished the packages off with red and green bows. That was a festive and fun change from the normal store-bought wrap, and the kids enjoyed both the activity AND getting to brag about it at Christmastime!

Christmas Cards Made by Kids

Another summertime art project is to create original artwork on card stock. If you have a child who is a budding artist, whether it’s with paints, colored pencils, or ink, you might set him or her loose with an assignment for a certain number of holiday-appropriate cards. Of course, if you love crafting cards, you will love this project yourself!

Working with photos to create cards, gift tags, photo ornaments, or photo calendars for 2012 is another creative option for those hot days when the A/C inside beckons, if you didn’t tackle that a few months ago or if you have children who love working with digital photos on the computer.

Kids who enjoy crafts may enjoy making Christmas tree ornaments. By making them during the summer, you can plan for lots of them - enough to share with others early in December so that they can enjoy hand-crafted decorations too! In fact, you could take the time to think about having a theme tree this year! I have two trees that are a mishmash of ornaments collected over the years from vacations, school projects, received as gifts, and so forth. But I love the themed trees I see in Christmas festivals and in magazines. I now have a snowflake and snowman theme tree. Many of the snowmen on the tree were made from kits bought from the Oriental Trading Company. I love that place – their crafts are so affordable! Right now they have some cute Christmas ornament crafts selling at half price. You should check it out!

This is a great time to make progress toward your holiday goals. Chances are good that it’s hot and humid outside, so stay where you can enjoy some air-conditioning, choose a project, and get creative!

Christmas Cards All Year 'Round -- you've gotta see that!

I just found a blog about making Christmas cards -- the “all year 'round” theme drew me in. :-) Christmas Cards All Year 'Round has some really gorgeous handmade cards! The design team puts up monthly challenges, and guest designers are often featured. Anyone who loves to make cards will adore this blog! (The red name is the link -- click on it, and you'll be there!)


(If I could make cards like that, I would hate to part with them and would likely decorate my office with them instead...)