I am the kind of person who is always looking ahead, sometimes way to far ahead, but being late or last minute has always felt too stressful to me and I really dislike being stressed!
My family doesn't do much at Christmas anymore, most everyone is over 21 so the child-like enthusiasum for christmas doesn't invade my home much, well, hardly at all actually.
Christmas and all of its build up is mostly memories. And a major portion of those memories are piles of snow. Winter on our small farm in Manitoba, about 20 miles outside of Winnipeg...
But one of the things I realized, I don't remember the gifts I got! I remember gifts I gave, because even as a child I was encouraged to use my creativity. One year, I gave my grandma and grandpa, painted and framed paint-by-number paintings, one a collie and the other a german shepard... I remember making for my other grandmother a hanging rack for keys or other little things -- and that she put it on her wall in her tiny kitchen and it was there until she had to move from her home due to age and infirmity... So even at a young age I was thinking ahead of gift giving time, in order to have special things to give. Oh yeah, my favourite gift I ever gave was to my Dad -- it was in the years when Pet Rocks were the "in" thing. I made for my father an Automatic Cigarette Lighter. I got a piece of drift wood and glued to it a fist sized rock, and also onto the piece of wood, I attached a small metal tin box. I filled the box with wooden matches -- it sat on the table by my Dad's chair for a very long time...
I am thinking of taking a short trip over to visit my son in Victoria, BC in a few weeks and I am now waiting for some fabric I ordered - cars printed on a baby blue background - to make him some pillowcases...
So, No Panic. I suspect all the things I plan to make for my friends or relatives will be done well in advance of Christmas Day!
Oh, and in case you think pillowcases might be just the thing for someone you may know for christmas -- here is the link and tutorial that I use... http://youtu.be/7moryq_ZRFY which is an excellent video that shows each step and wonderfully explained by Robin Gallager... Try it even if you don't give away the pillowcases!
Today is a great day to start thinking of what you can make or do for those around you, so you are ready well before Christmas and then you can sit and relax with everyone else instead of rushing around at the last minute...
