CIJ Giveaway

Please check out this blog by Ms. Life's Place for a chance to win her CIJ giveaway. The winner will be announced August 9th.

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HAPPY CHRISTMAS IN JULY 2009

Well it's been a very long time since I've posted here. The holidays were an absolute joy for me last year. I'm hoping that this year will be another success. With that said, here's what is going on for this year. Last month for Rudy day I spent the day reorganizing the closet which houses all my Christmas decorations...sorting and getting rid of things I no longer wanted or were just worn out and no longer useable.

For the remainder of this year my plans are to spend each Rudy Day crafting. So far I have several easy-to-make craft ideas that will make great gifts for family and friends. More may be added if time allows for them.

Teacup candles
Altered Jars
Advent calendar

Over at MHH and OC members are celebrating Christmas In July. We're doing everything from watching holiday movies to crafts to sharing recipe ideas. During CIJ, I am just working out plans to make Christmas relaxing and as stress free as possible. Be sure to check out my other Christmas blog, "Love of Christmas" and watch my progress.

Also stop back here later this month when I hope to show you pictures of my current craft project: Advent Calendar.

Post Christmas In July

Christmas in July is over and for me it was the boost I needed to get into swing for the holidays. I have to admit it was slow getting started with all the other activities I had going on but once I found the time, there was no stopping me. I finished my handmade Christmas cards as well as worked on a few other holiday projects. The acrylic post-it note pad holders were very easy and simple to do. I originally was going to do 5 but after seeing how nice they looked I've decided to do a few more for the ladies in our accounting office instead of the glass ornaments. Over at the Magical Holiday Home forum there was a month full of fun things to do. I have to remember to bring my camera with me so that I can post my pictures.

I went through and did an inventory of most of my decorations. I have so many I got tired and had to stop. I made a date to go back and finish doing inventory for October Rudy Day. I will be giving some things away that I will not use this year. From that I started writing out my plans for decorating each room in my apartment as well as my area at work. I have my office, the front door/stairwell area, and part of the livingroom already written out.

I wanted to have a CIJ dinner but I over-extended myself with my "celebrate me" plans. I was having too much fun celebrating my birthday. I had a menu planned with decorations and activities all written down. Next year I'll schedule the dinner for the earlier part of July.

I officially placed my master shopping list in my purse to have on hand whenever I'm out shopping. I think I have about half of my gifts bought. I went so crazy with stocking stuffers for my nieces and nephews that I am going to have to use the really big Christmas stockings to hold everything. I should have picked some up today as the Dollar Tree near my job already has a whole isle of Christmas stuff out.

My menu for Christmas Eve is finalized and grocery list is in my holiday binder ready for market day.

If I keep up this pace I think I will actually be ready for Christmas this year. Hope you all will be ready.

Christmas In July Schedule

Here's a list of everything I plan to do this month:

1. Go through my Christmas decorations. See what I don't want or need to add. Create a decor plan.
2. Work on several holiday craft projects (homemade greeting cards, ornaments and post-it holders)
3. Purchase gifts for 4 of the people on my gift list.
4. Plan Christmas In July menu (date set for July 31st).
5. Try a new cookie recipe.
6. Do some of the housecleaning tasks from the Houseworks+Holiday plan.
   
7. Inventory holiday movies/music
8. Watch a few holiday movies. For the first week of July over at MHH we watched "Scrooged" with Bill Murray. Hilarious!
9. Put my holiday CD's in the car.
10. Create and print my Christmas Eve dinner invitations
11. Finalize holiday menus
12. Shop for stocking stuffers
13. Create grocery lists for baking/holiday menu
14. Update my blogs (started today)

Well that's all for now. I've just been over at MHH to see what everyone else is doing. Now I am going to create my July calendar with my '24 Days of Christmas' activities. Will write back soon.

Christmas In July!

Well this month over at Magical Holiday Home boards, we are celebrating Christmas In July. The first week was light because of the July 4th celebration. We were asked to tell of our most favorite/memorable Christmas. My favorite Christmas memory was when I was about 8 or 9, my grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins and friends all came to our house for Christmas. I remember us kids entertaining the adults by doing dances, singing or telling jokes. It was really a wonderful time. My grandfather, father, an aunt, an uncle and a cousin have since passed away. Whenever I think of them, I always remeber the Christmas pasts that we were all together.

It was also the year I got my very first sewing machine. I was asking for a 'Sew Perfect', instead I got a Singer sewing machine. I had that machine for about 27/28 years. Never did learn how to make clothes or anything like that... just the basics.