Do you see what I see? Christmas already!

It's not even December, but Christmas is hurtling at us faster than a speeding bullet, stronger than a locomotive, able to leap tall build.....oh, that's Superman. Well, Christmas IS next month, that's for darn sure.

There are detractors who feel that Thanksgiving is lost in the holiday mix. They scoff when the Christmas trees go up before the last Jack-O-Lantern is put on clearance in the stores. They grump at Christmas music piped into elevators and get fussy upon the endless emails offering early bird deals to wrap up their holiday shopping needs.


I'm a big fan of Thanksgiving. It's the only meal of the year where I give myself permission to carb load guilt-free. I can take or leave the turkey. Breads, stuffing and pies are my vices. And I'm the only one in my family who gets really put out if I am interrupted during the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade. But, I'm of the firm belief that the Christmas detractors are either men who have no earthly idea that Christmas doesn't just 'show up and happen' mysteriously in their homes; presents wrapped, food served, children all wearing matching red sweaters. Or they're women who didn't get the Barbie Dream House or saw Mommie kissing Santa Claus when they were 6, thus having their Christmas hopes and dreams dashed for all eternity. I'll address the message of Christmas getting lost in commercialism argument at another time.

I kid! I kid!


In any case, Christmas is a PRODUCTION (where are the flashing blinky lights for this?). No doubt about it. If I don't have the majority of shopping and planning done by Thanksgiving, I know my stress level will fly through the roof along with Rudolph and 8 other tiny reindeer.

We live a bazillion, er, several hundred miles away from any family. This means I get to join the lovely people at the post office who, frankly, are killing me with the postage rates these days and every time I go, I get a asked a littany of other upsell questions that barely stops short of "Would you like fries with that?" If I don't have all my pressies bought or made, wrapped, packed with Christmas cards in the boxes and shlepped to the post office before the second week of December, I might as well have fruitcake shipped to my family for New Years Eve because that's about the 'kind of relative' they'll feel I am when their box doens't arrive until Groundhog Day.

That's just one example of why while my husband isn't yet on board with the Christmas 'plans' I have laid out for us, I am already full steam ahead on Project Mistletoe. Breathe Casii.... Breathe

Truth is, for many, many women and not a few men, we love to give, to serve, to pamper others and to open our homes in the spirit of hospitality. This is why we get caught up in the Christmas production. We are victims of our own giving nature; helpless to the urge to show our love for others in the way we best accept love.

I fell victim to the Christmas crafting elf by burning my thumb the other day. Sadly, after being so careful while handling a soldering iron, I turn around and scorch myself while taking dinner out of the oven. Lesson here? Not sure, but it did make handling anything requiring fine motor skills impossible for the rest of the night. Soldering had to wait for finishing the next day.

Last year we had a soldering class at Creative Escape. I bought the whole kit and kaboodle, brought it home and pretty much put it away never to be seen again. Not long ago, I dusted the stuff off and decided to try my hand at it. These are the beginning efforts. Little charm/ornaments/pendants/whatevers. Perfectly imperfect. Fun to do. Most of the images are from ARTchix Studio. If you don't have a lot of ephemera or images in your supply, The Graphics Fairy (Thanks Kim!) posts a free image every day. I got most of my supplies from Simply Swank.

Act One of Project Mistletoe?