Starting to think about Christmas presents...

It's not that far away when you really think about it.

It's closer than you think if you are planning to make things yourself to give as gifts.

It's all so scary.

The Princess and I were wading through multiple pages on the internet today (actually, it was originally the one site that we looked at but you know how these things happen), and came across many ideas we could use.  My Princess is very 'artistical' as she once described herself, and is always making something or drawing.  Her favourite things to draw are fairies and mermaids.  She is currently designing her own clothing range - including prices - that I think is rather lovely.  I wonder if this may one day lead to something...

Anyhoo, we came across a wonderful site called Executive Homemaker and there were so many brilliant ideas on it we soon discovered we'd spent almost 2 hours looking and clicking!  

There was also this lovely alphabet poster at Yellow Mums that I think would be lovely framed for my nieces.  Never mind the fact that I promised one of them a lavender stuffed sleep doll to one of them once we'd got settled in at the new house!  I can pick up some cheap raw timber photo frames from the discount shops and paint them in a matching color and they'd look wonderful.

I would like to try soap making so I might spend more time searching through this site for something easy and suitable for a beginner.  I think that almost everyone loves hand made soap, especially when it smells pretty.

Of course, fabric bunting is on my list of things to make, too.  I'm going to make some eventually to drape through the trees in the chicken yard once it's up and going.  Hopefully it'll help keep the eagles and hawks away, and give the chooks something pretty to look at (and maybe take their minds off trying to escape into the vegetable patch next to their yard!).

As a rule, we tend to only buy for the children in our family.  We have one niece who lives overseas and unless they are out here for a visit, we don't normally give her anything.  It is too expensive to post things to whichever country they are living in at the time.  My nephew is really boy-ish and likes trucks, but I always try to give him books if I can.  Failing that it's clothing.  Another niece is very girly and loves dolls, dress-ups, and the bunting I gave her last year went down really well.  

We don't give anything to our parents or siblings.  We rarely give each other gifts, we just buy ourselves something we want instead.  Christmas is about children we believe.

What are you doing for Christmas?