Rudolph Day recap

A page from my vintage Night Before Christmas Little Golden Book

So this past Monday was Rudolph Day for May.  Although I didn't have time to do a lot of Christmas-related activities that day, I will tell you about what I did do.

I pulled out my Christmas notebook and spent some good time with it.  If you click "Christmas notebook" in the label cloud in the sidebar at right, you will find all of my posts concerning my Christmas notebook and the sort of things it contains.

What I was doing on Monday was to go through my lists of handmade gifts I'm hoping to give this year.  I have one list for birthdays, and another list for Christmas.  I added in a few items and crossed off some birthday gifts already made and given.

I also added a few items to my Christmas list.  For example, I made a felt campfire, logs, fire ring and s'mores for 2 birthday kids.  After completing those, I knew I wanted to make more for a Christmas gift for another family.  So those have now gone on my Christmas list.

And I also went through and figured out a timeline for several of these handcrafted gifts.  I explain my crafting timelines in much more detail here: Planning for Handmade Gifts.  Basically, the timelines list the project, who it's for, what materials I need, and what date I'd like to finish by.  I don't always accomplish it by then, but I find that failing to plan is planning to fail!

And that was my Rudolph Day hour or so.  Pretty simple; not even Christmas tea, Christmas music, or anything.  It's been hot here, so iced tea was the order of the day.  But I was thankful to be able to take some quality time for planning.  How was your Rudy Day?

Another Rudolph Day got away!

Found this free graphic online years ago -- I forget where.  It's an illustration from the Jolly Old Saint Nicholas book I loved as a child.

Yes, Rudolph Day for April got right by me.  I had thought I would try and celebrate at least a little, but no Christmas crafts were made, no Christmas tea sipped, no Christmas music listened to.

Over the next couple of days, though, I took some time to browse through some Gooseberry Patch Christmas books I'd purchased used on Amazon.

Book 13 -- photo from Amazon

Book 14 -- photo from Amazon

If you have never thought of buying used Christmas books, head over to Amazon and see the selection.  The pricing, even on hardcovers (which these were), can be amazingly low.  I still haven't finished browsing through these, but when I do, I will hopefully write some book reviews.  These feature the wonderful projects, recipes, handmade gift ideas and decorating inspiration we've all come to expect from Gooseberry Patch.

Even though my Rudolph Day got away, these books are mine to keep -- and I'm enjoying them!