things I need to finish...

I'm in pretty good shape for Christmas. (Go ahead, hate me, it's nothing I haven't heard from my own family). I get the "I can't believe you've started already!" I return with "I can't believe you haven't. Were you surprised by the date? Did you think they moved it?" (This attitude only counts within my own family - none of them are renovating, or putting giant holes in their houses. I truly feel for you if you have crap going on beyond your control. I'm really talking about my SIL who bitched at me - she works fewer hours than I do, her kids don't have evening activities, they don't entertain, and her husband gets home about 3 hours before mine does, therefore availing himself to help out. Yet she freaks out at me.)

But... there's still a few things to go...

From the top:

Another gnome, this one in blue and yellow, to match a friend's kitchen. And this friend is coming for dinner this Saturday, so this is now the main knitting project. He's going to be cute! I have finished stuffing his butt with beans, and have started one of the legs. I may wait to do the beard until S gets to our place, and let her choose if she wants a white beard or a grey one...

Next are the blue cotton socks for my husband. I'm pretty much resigned to finishing these after Christmas, and he's good with that. It's not like they are a surprise - he picked the yarn and I sized them on him, and he chose the grey that will accent to top to add some much needed length. He's good with getting them whenever.

The third pair of thrummed mittens, this pair for my son's teacher. I've made them in the school colours, and will enclose a note saying they're for those cold playground duties the teachers have to do. I think she'll like them. The deadline for these is December 18 - last day of school.

Last but not least - the Fame Trend socks for my Father in Law. As much as he's okay with getting them after Christmas, I'd kind of like to get a little further along on them, but we'll see. I'm not 100% convinced that these socks are right for him. Colourwise, they're spot on, but the Fame Trend is a little more rustic than I like for him. He has problems with his feet, so I should have gone softer. I''ll keep debating this point, every time I pick these up, so maybe I should just bite the bullet and find a better yarn for him...

Plus, there's the last 4 pairs of pajamas to finish up, possibly a few more knitted items, and some baking. And knowing me, the baking is of course, the non-traditional kind. Everyone else makes wonderful Christmas cookies this time of year, I make dog biscuits. Yup- we have 4 dogs that are parts of close friends' families, so we can't forget them. They all get home made dog biscuits. They love it, and it's fun to do. And dogs don't care if they haven't browned evenly. I actually forgot to do this last year, and paid the price. Not so much from the dogs (I mean, come on, they're dogs, they don't remember from one year to the next that we gave them bickies...) but the owners were a touch put out that we forgot. So we're rectifying this with double batches this year. And yes, I have bone shaped cookie cutters, as well as other shapes.

A few more gift items to pick up, and then the wrapping marathon begins. I literally take over the basement, set up a table in front of the TV, and go wild with papers, bags, ribbons and the like. I admit, I tend to go over the top with wrapping. I love it. My husband just shakes his head.

It's obvious, isn't it? I love this time of year...