Preventive Holiday Planning

I learned a new word this past week--frenemies.  That is a good description of my relationship to the holidays.  Not being one who works well with pressure and deadlines, I find the holidays full of opportunities to get frazzled.  Wanting to be on better terms with the season, I am working on various strategies to reduce the stress.  

This is the second year where I have worked on our Christmas cards throughout the year.  By November they are done, so I can focus on the Christmas letter and getting envelopes addressed.  So far so good.

While we have never been big Christmas decorators, we do have it down now to having both the putting up the decorations or taking them down in two or three hours.  This is our second year with our little tree.

The Christmas quilts are up.

 

The Nativity is displayed on the mantel.

A bit of lights are on the front porch and my shabby chic wreath is on the door.  

Well, maybe not chic, but I am just waiting for the right one to come along to replace it.  Waiting can be profitable as evidence by our newest Christmas addition--the swirl tree.

I had been keeping my eye out for a little metal ornament tree.  This one was featured in a Crate and Barrel catalog I got in the mail--just what I was hoping to find.

Thanks to my children's willingness to work with giving me gift ideas, my gift shopping going well--almost down to the wrapping and mailing stage now.  The biggest challenge will be the food, planning for safe foods for my hubby and me plus the traditional foods to be shared. 

So, while the holidays and I will probably never be just friends since it always means a disruption to my routine, we are learning to work together to make it a time I look forward to and enjoy.   

Confection

Every once in a while in my quiltmaking, I run across an opinionated quilt.  For example, a good number of year ago, I discovered the bold beauty of Amish quilts and decided to make Amish Baskets.

Amish quilts not only have striking colors, they have a lot of quilting, creating wonderful textures and patterns to balance out the solid fabrics.  When I was making this quilt, I was doing all of my quilting by hand.  In each of the squares between the baskets I did a traditional feathered wreath.

In the process of doing all these wreaths, I determined that the outer border was not going to be feathers.  As I began to work on designs, that is when the quilt spoke up.  The conversation went something like this:

Me:  Hmmm, what kind of design shall I do for this outer border?
Quilt:  Feathers
Me:  No, no!  No more feathers!  How about this one?
Quilt:  Feathers
Me:  What about no do you not understand?  How about this one?
Quilt:  Feathers
Me:  Please don't be stubborn.  I am tired of doing feathers.  This one?
Quilt:  Feathers
Me:  You really aren't going to let me do anything else, are you?
Quilt:  Nope.  It's feathers or nothing.
Me:  Sigh.  Okay, feathers it is.

The little found quilt didn't like the name I gave it.


Quilt:  Um, excuse me, could we please change my name?
Me:  What?  You don't like Baby's Breath?
Quilt:  It sounds kind of weird to me?
Me:  What do you mean?  It is a flower.
Quilt:  I know, but every time you say it, I just see a baby breathing.
Me:  Well, okay.  Hmmm, how about Sweetness?  Every time I look at you I think, "What a sweet little quilt!"
Quilt:  Awww, thank you!  I don't think that is quite it, though.
Me:  Let's see....  How about Confection?  You know...truffles, bonbons, and petit fours.  
Quilt:  I like it!  Thanks.
Me:  Your welcome.  


And here she is: