Planning Ahead for Christmas

It seems like many of the stores are already filled with Christmas items ~ especially crafts shops! And while many of the grocery stores are filled with candy for Halloween, still others have their special holiday baking aisles already displayed.

This is the season to spend a little extra time looking through all those ad flyers that come in each week, along with the newspaper's food section and Sunday supplements. Here are a few ideas...

~ Keep your eyes open for items you'll need for holiday baking. Make lists of all the recipes you want to try, and as these things go on sale, buy them now! That way you won't have the large expense all in one week, when it's closer to Christmas.

~ Look in the candy aisles now, while there's so much candy available at some good sale prices for Halloween! See if there are items there that you can use in your Christmas baking, or for stocking stuffers. Of course, you wouldn't want to use the candy wrapped in fall colors when you'd prefer to see red and green. BUT, you can buy the large bags of wrapped peppermints and save them to make a candy wreath or to add to a hot cocoa mix for a mint hot cocoa. Caramels or hard candies in gold wrappers are also perfect. Think ahead ~ and be creative!

~ For those of you who don't sew or craft, you may not think to look in fabric shops for your decorations. But, believe me, there are huge amounts of ornaments, decorations, ribbons, florals, and other various holiday items available. Don't let the word "fabric" scare you :) However, if you're looking for an interesting wrapping idea, Christmas fabric is nice for wrapping gifts... or you can tear a piece into one- or two- inch strips and use it as "ribbon" with a brown craft paper for the wrapping paper (also available in those stores). While you're there ~ get on their mailing list and you'll receive lots of coupons and discounts for items up to 50% off.

~ Some large stores are putting out lots of small items from last year at greatly reduced prices. Look for inexpensive decorations, ornaments, and stocking stuffers. If you budget now and add a few of these small-price items to your weekly shopping list, you'll have your stocking stuffers done in no time.

From My Notebook - Country Christmas Decorating

Celebrate the holiday with a country theme.

~ Use quilts and afghans draped over chairs or sofas to lend a cozy look, and hang some cross-stitched or embroidered samplers on the walls.

~ Purchase old-fashioned looking tins and use them for potpourri, candles, cookies and candy.

~ Hang knitted or crocheted stockings.

~ Use old tin kitchen graters or muffin tins as candle holders... a nice assortment of candles fit easily in the muffin tins, and the graters look great when placed over a burning votive.

~ Find an old patchwork quilt or chenille spread at a yard sale, and use it to make ornaments, stockings, pillows or wreaths.

~ Use pine cones, greenery, apples and cinnamon sticks for decorating

~ To decorate the kitchen or dining area ... red and white homespun fabric for table runners or mug mats... gingerbread men... gingerbread houses... popcorn and cranberry garlands... stuffed felt ornaments made from cookie cutter "stencils"

~ For a nostalgic decoration use children's old train sets, wooden blocks, small cast-iron stoves, small wagons or rocking horses decorated with greenery and lights.

~ Fill a basket with pine cones, greenery, bare branches and lights for an attractive display inside or out.

~ Find old Christmas books at yard sales or thrift shops, tie a few together with a strip of gingham fabric, and place them on a table, or in a basket.

Spend some time over the next few months looking at items in your own home to see what lends itself to a "Country Christmas" look.

Simple Crocheted Scarf

Here are directions for my favorite crocheted scarf. It's easy to do, and over the years I've made several of them as gifts in all different colors. I happened to have one that was semi-completed sitting in a box, so I took these two photos. I think my favorites were the ones in a white with a silvery strand running through them.

For best results, you'll want to look for Bernat Coordinates yarn. It's a sports weight yarn usually in or near the baby section, and is in many different pastel colors. It's a soft, lightweight, "nubby" yarn with a sort of silvery or shiny "thread" through it. It has no dye lot (at least it didn't a few years ago when I was making several of these).

When I crochet the scarves I generally make them long, around 54 inches, and they're a little over 13 inches wide. The fringe I add on each end is about 5 inches long. This yarn makes a pretty wavy style fringe.

Now, here are the directions ~ which are very, very easy! It goes quickly, and you don't have to pay a lot of attention as you work because it's the same stitch over and over again... nothing complicated at all.


SCARF DIRECTIONS

1 to 1-1/2 skeins Bernat Coordinates
Crochet hook size G


Ch 62 loosely.

Row 1: Insert hook in second chain from hook and pull up a loop, insert hook in next ch and pull up a loop, yarn over (YO) an draw through all 3 loops on hook, ch 1, *(insert hook in next ch and pull up a loop) twice, YO and draw through all 3 loops on hook, ch 1; repeat from * across to last ch, sc in last ch: 61 sts.

Row 2: Ch 1, turn; [insert hook in same st and pull up a loop, insert hook in next ch-1 sp and pull up a loop, YO and draw through all 3 loops on hook], ch 1, * [insert hook in next st and pull up a loop, insert hook in next ch-1 sp and pull up a loop, YO and draw through all 3 loops on hook, ch 1; repeat from * across to last st, sc in last st.

Repeat Row 2 until scarf reaches desired length. Finish off. Add fringe.

Chocolate Creme De Mint Truffles

Here's a recipe that's fast and really delicious. Many years ago we made lots of these and included them in a holiday bake sale (we did cookies and candies). They sold out very quickly!!

CHOCOLATE CREME DE MINTS (TRUFFLES)
(Yield: 3-1/2 dozen)

One 11-1/2 ounce package (2 cups) milk chocolate morsels
1/4 cup sour cream
2-1/2 tablespoons mint flavored liqueur

Melt chocolate morsels over hot (not boiling) water and stir until smooth. Remove from heat and blend in sour cream. Stir in mint-flavored liqueur. Transfer to small bowl and chill till thickened -- about 30 minutes. Fill pastry bag fitted with decorative tip; pipe 1-inch candies onto foil-lined cookie sheet. Chill till ready to serve. Keep refrigerated.

Note: Can also be made into small 1-inch balls and then rolled in cocoa powder, powdered sugar, or light green sprinkles.

A Recipe ~ Peanut Butter Squares

I decided to start going through some recipes and begin making lists of what I hope to make this holiday season. These taste just like Reese's Peanut Butter Cups and are easy to make! I plan on making a few batches and then adding them to some gift baskets for co-workers, along with some other candies or baked goodies.


"REESE-LIKE PEANUT BUTTER SQUARES"

1-1/2 cups graham crackers, crushed
1 box powdered sugar
1 cup peanut butter (creamy or chunky)
2 sticks margarine, melted
1 12-ounce package chocolate chips, melted

Mix first four ingredients; press into 13 x 9 inch pan. Refrigerate 15 minutes. Spread melted chocolate on top. Leave at room temperature. Cut into 1 inch squares and serve. May be kept refrigerated or frozen.

Church Crafts Fairs and Bazaars

This morning while on my way to the post office I saw a banner announcing a church fall festival and crafts fair. For me, that means that Autumn is officially here, and it also marks the beginning of the holiday season!

The church crafts fairs and bazaars (as they were called when I was a child) are some of my favorite things, and I love pulling out my calendar and adding all these events to it. My daughter and I love visiting these holiday craft fairs, wandering around the small cozy "booths" set up by the ladies of the church, and looking at all their homemade crafts. So many of the crafts festivals nowadays are almost "professional" ~ and have beautiful crafts made by people who do their particular craft "as a living". But at the church festivals ~ or bazaars ~ you can still find simple old-fashioned items that were made with special care and love, as the older ladies of the church got together each week to craft. They may not be as fancy as some of the other crafts items created by more experienced crafters, but they're so much fun to look at ~ and to buy.

They bring back wonderful memories for me of the Christmas bazaars at the church I attended as a child. My mother, both grandmothers, and my great-grandmother all had items they made for the event, and it was fun to spend the day there "helping".

A more recent memory is one that our daughter and I share... of a Christmas bazaar at a beautiful old church in Prescott, Arizona, where we lived for several years. Prescott is in the mountains ~ about 5500 feet in altitude ~ and it's filled with pine trees, beautiful Victorian homes, and they get snow! (I say that because we don't get it here in south central Texas, and I miss it!!) Prescott was always a lot of fun around the holidays because it's known as Arizona's Christmas City, and they have wonderful parades and celebrations.

Back to the church I mentioned... This particular church is a big old stone building on a corner hill, as you enter town. Each fall we'd keep watch for the banner to go up at the front staircase, giving the dates for their crafts bazaar. There were rooms filled with crafts ~ some Victorian, some homespun and country, and all made by the ladies of the church... a room filled with books for sale... another room filled with toys... a back room that had so many racks of clothing you could barely fit through... and the downstairs area was filled with food ~ homemade mixes to buy (they were famous for their bean soup mix, and always had a pot being kept hot for free samples), delicious brownies, cookies, candy and muffins all packaged in pretty paper and ribbons, lots of hot cocoa, or hot apple cider. What a pleasant way to spend a brisk, fall, afternoon!

If you haven't been to a traditional church crafts fair or bazaar in a long time, why not add one to your calendar this year, and have some old-fashioned fun!

Holiday Pine Sachets

I've wanted to make these sachets for a few years, and plan to get to them this fall... honestly!! I have lots of holiday fabric that I think will be nice for this project.

These sachets make nice stocking stuffers or package decorations. They can be used as ornaments, in closets and drawers. You can also make several and place them in a pretty basket to be used as party favors.

For each sachet you will need:
2 squares of burlap or calico (5-1/2 inches square)
thread
3/4 cup fresh pine needles
pine oil (optional)
30 inch length of ribbon, 1 to 1-1/2 inches wide

~ With right sides facing, sew the burlap or calico squares together (use zigzag stitch for burlap), leaving 1 side open for turning. Seam allowance is 1/4 inch.
~ Clip the corners and turn right side out.
~ Fill the sachet with the pine needles and slipstitch the open edge. Sprinkle the sachet with the pine oil if you'd like a stronger scent.
~ Tie the ribbon in a bow around the sachet, Add a sprig of pine needles in the bow for decoration.