Last night I sat at my knitting group and was amazed by the woman next to me. In planning for Christmas, she had a spreadsheet set up with who was getting what handknit item, what yarn would be used, (color coded) which days she would be working on them and when each needed to be shipped by. Holy Cow. I'm a list girl, but compared to that, the scrawled notes in the back of my calender look pretty pathetic. So, as with the sweater, it's time to get cracking.I read something yesterday on SimpleKids that, I think, is the perfect philosophy for planning gifts for my kids. Four gifts.
Something they want
Something they need
Something to wear
Something to read
Brilliant.
I always start off thinking that I should get more gifts for them, more things, and then by the time Christmas morning rolls around I look at the piles of gifts and realize that maybe I could have scaled back a bit. Over the past few years we've tried to focus more on special, handmade if possible, gifts, but this sums it up so nicely for me. It's a good reminder.
I've got the wear and the read for both kids already (which, hey, means I'm halfway there, sort of!) The need, I'm still deciding on, but it will probably be winter gear related since we are a bit lacking in that department, and the want, well, Briton eats, sleeps and dreams Lego's, so that's sorted. But then there is Evelyn.
Evelyn is hard to shop for. Not because she doesn't like things, she likes everything. She just doesn't really want anything. She wants things in the moment, when we pass them in the store, but unlike Briton who has always had something that he's dying to get, Evie is pretty content with what she has. Which is fabulous, I'm not complaining. But it means that when I want to find something special for her, I have to dig a little deeper.
I pinned this onto my Evie and Briton board on Pinterest a while ago. It's so sweet and it seems very Evie (and Eliza) and I've been wanting to make it since the moment I clapped eyes on it. So when, during our adventure in bench toting, I found a vintage suitcase as well, I snapped it up.Will is helping design the rooms (naturally, I can't wait to see what he comes up with, hopefully something I can sew) and I found some fun wool felt and fat quarters at Purl Soho when I was last in there, so now all I need to do is get going on it, without her knowing or seeing or peeking. Which, in a wee little apartment, is proving to be a little difficult. I think we are going to have to have some gift making days in our homeschool schedule.
Tomorrow I'll be prepping for Thanksgiving as we are having a house full (apartment full?) of Will's fellow students, none of whom has experienced Thanksgiving before. I wonder what they will think of Pumpkin Pie.
Have a Happy Thanksgiving All!