Category Archives: Christmas

Is it Too Early?

To be thinking about creating Christmas ensembles??? Well, I’ve been thinking about them since July, and now it’s time to start acting on all of that thinking. Yes, Christmas is months away, but I need time, lots of time!

Christmas outfits are my very favorite and I never get as many done as I’d like to, so I am starting EARLY this year. You may think, way too early, and you may be right, but I am already in the mood for red and green, Santa hats and Christmas fabric, embroidered holly, fluffy white mohair yarn that looks like snow…

Here are some pieces of my Christmas fabric. Some of it is new this year, some I never got to last year, and some got made into ensembles last year. Here are some photos of those ensembles from last year.

Snowman Luv 2014

Hugs for Rudolph 2014

Candy Canes for Christmas 2014

Make a Christmas Wish 2014

Holiday Helper 2014

Helping the Clauses 2014

Christmas 2014

Tiny Holly Elf 2014

Festive Li’l One 2014

Elves Needed 2014

So, did some of my early Christmas spirit wear off on you?

Bye for now! Thanks for reading.

Baking Christmas Cookies

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We all know that a huge part of Christmas preparation is cookie baking! I started last weekend by baking snowballs with chocolate chips. When I was growing up my mom made these every Christmas. Everybody always loved them. This batch that I made got mailed away to out-of-state family although I kept a few behind to share here at home, with a promise to make more.

You would think that I have enough cookie recipes to choose from, but I felt like trying something new so this past week I made almond cookies garnished with maraschino cherries and chocolate crinkles. I found these two recipes online here and here. I wanted to use cocoa powder for the chocolate crinkles so I mixed 3/4 c. cocoa powder with the dry ingredients and added an extra 3T. of butter instead of the baking chocolate.

Yesterday my daughter put in her share of baking by making shortbread cutout cookies. Without fail, we make these every year. One year we even made them on Christmas Eve. This is a recipe that has been in my mom’s recipe box since the ’70s. Long ago, I made myself a copy. They are very delicate and buttery and not too sweet. The cookies are iced after they are mostly cool which gives some sweetness and a nice sugary shell on top.

I hope all of you have enjoyed or will enjoy a bit of cookie baking too.

My Favorite Doll Books

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When I go into a bookstore I almost always browse through the childrens books looking for delightful illustrations. Illustrated childrens books are one of my favorite things and if it is a sweet story that includes dolls I am hooked. I only have two in my collection, but am always looking for more.

The Story of Holly and Ivy by Rumer Godden was originally published in Ladies’ Home Journal in 1957. In 1985, illustrations were added to the story and this is the book that I discovered at my local library years ago. After checking it out for a few years in a row at Christmastime I wanted my own copy. Lucky for me it was republished in 2006. It is now in my collection and one I look through every Christmas season. I love the magical old world story and looking at the cozy illustrations by Barbara Cooney.

The other doll book in my collection is one that I had as a child and loved so much. I forgot about this book, but stumbled upon it online recently. Seeing the cover of this book on the internet brought back a flood of memories that made me want to add this to my collection as well. The Surprise Doll was originally published in 1949, but published again in 2009.