Fall Nesting {Day 15} - Plan for Christmas

Caution: If you and I are all friendly-like in the world outside of blogs, consider not reading today. You have been warned, friendly-types.

What does Christmas have to do with fall? Um, not a whole bunch... but fall nesting is a different kettle of fish entirely. We're working to enjoy and savor the coming months; that means no panicked trips to convenience stores on Christmas Eve for last minute gifts. Spend a little time now to enjoy an infinitely more relaxed next two months.

Your first mission, should you choose to accept it, is to create a Christmas gift list on your computer somewhere. Or print this one:

I like to write down everything I'm getting for people outside my immediate family (grandparents, teachers, close friends, neighbors) on a handy dandy list like that one, so I have a place to store ideas through the year and so I can track my progress as Christmas gets closer (it's a two-pronged holiday attack system!)

Starting a little early is also important if you like making homemade gifts. I like to sneak in some level of homemade-y goodness each year even though I primarily try to avoid crafts altogether on account of my severe craft allergy.

Anyway, do a random search for homemade gifts on Pinterest at any old time and you will see buckets of fabulous projects just waiting for crafty minxes such as yourself. There are also countless online lists of gift ideas, like this one.

This year it seems like everyone is going mad for homemade vanilla extract, so being the sheep that I am (baa.) I ordered some bottles, Bourbon Madagascar Vanilla beans, bought some vodka (yuck) and had me a little Christmas crafty party.

 (look ma, vanilla bean seed floaties!)

This recipe calls for 2 months of vodka-n-bean steepage, so you could (a.) assemble your gifts in October like moi, or (b.) give a gift that's not technically usable yet. And um, you can decide which option is better... (but not really because option a is vastly superior.)

I'll worry about cute things like labels later; right now I'm just glad I got the ball rolling. Those beans smelled amazing, I am incredibly glad I thought ahead and also made a bottle for yours truly.

I also happened upon a fabulously fun etsy shop, byLaura Design, where I uncovered my second crafty homemade gift project for 2011: the bearded beanie.

 (byLaura Design)

Come on, every man deserves one of these babies. They also come in little man size, which is keel-over adorable.

  (byLaura Design)

She sells both finished hats and patterns (which is what I purchased) and I can't wait to hopefully-not-suck-it-up-big-time and produce something that resembles a hat in some way.  

Are you already planning for Christmas? Or maybe you're a rock star and you're already done? In that case, do you want to crochet a couple bearded beanies for me?

(P.S. I didn't get anything for my beanie adoration in this post, I just had to share this in case a man in your life needs a hat with an attached beard. Because I know lots of guys like that.)

{Click here to see the other posts in my 31 Days of Fall Nesting series...}