So. Far. Behind.

Zoiks! How can it almost be December already?? I have done nearly nothing to plan or prepare for Christmas gift making. In fact, I've been a bit in denial--and still on my campaign to get the holiday moved to somewhere around January 28 or February 6...to give us something to look forward to in the depths of winter.

For the last two weekends I've been meaning to plow through a stack of craft books and magazines and make lists of things to make and do and buy, but I keep getting derailed (this weekend it was an epic basement cleaning project that threw me off--but it had to be done; the disaster I made down there in the process of cleaning one room was quite out of control and my 15 minutes of daily clean-up somehow fizzled out a month or so ago).

I looked back over my Handmade Holidays posts from last year and the year before (here, here, here, and here) and it's downright frightening. What kind of crazy machine was I to make all that stuff?? And why didn't you throw something really hard at me for being such a show-off?

I have one knitting project started:

And that's all. I don't have nearly the big plans to make as much stuff this year, but I do want to make some things, and I want to keep up the tradition of helping the kids make gifts for grand-people and whichever aunt/uncle/cousin whose name they draw. And I want to make a few things for C. I don't have anything handmade planned for E and Z, and for M, I've already given up on finishing (and, ahem, starting) the quilt that's gotten pushed off the docket for at least the last three holidays (birthday-Christmas-birthday), but I do want to stencil a t-shirt I bought for him. Oh, yes, and a dozen-and-a-half ornaments for the ornament exchange and all the various mothers-in-law.

Not to mention the weekly celebrations all month--St. Nicholas (and Krampus) Day; St. Lucia Day, Hanukah, Solstice--I'm exhausted already. What I really need is the month off.

I'm not the sort of person to decorate for Christmas the minute the turkey and stuffing are tossed in the compost--I like a bit of a breather between holidays--but in an attempt to get in the spirit, I picked up a few decorations at Goodwill yesterday (I promise I got rid of much more stuff than I brought home): these four cute tiny candleholders (made in "West Germany" so they're at least 20+ years old), some pretty Christmas balls and three plaster nativity characters for my mom (though she informs me she needs angels and camels, not more wise men, mangers or Josephs--they, together with the candleholders, were only 99 cents).

How about you? Are you ready?

P.S. Don't forget to leave a comment before midnight tonight for your chance to win my blog anniversary giveaway!