21 Weeks Until Christmas

It's 21 weeks, but that is also 4 months and 28 days until Christmas. 

We attended one Christmas in July event, and it was themed with a German festival of sorts.  We enjoyed (even on a hot day) a bowl of German potato soup.  Most items sold, were antique sellers.  I did not not get any photos of the event, nor made any Christmas purchases (very limited selection to buy from at this event).

Visited a store outlet of sorts, and picked one Christmas door mat out, and a Christmas mailbox cover.  It's going to be fun figuring out how, and where, to store the door mat until Christmas.  What was I thinking?

I washed up our Christmas tablecloth.  It has a few yellow stains, so I have ordered some special cleaner, that is specifically for antique yellowed fabrics.  The stains actually came out better than I thought, by using "Grandma's Stain Stick" that is made from lard and lye.  I was just waiting for a day to hang it on the line to dry (vs. using the dryer).

Cleaning out my handmade leftovers . . .

I finally opened a small storage container I had been moving here and there.  It was filled with some handmade Christmas ornaments that needed a new home.  Some had crochet work, or completely crocheted, but most repurposed materials such as wine corks donated to me, old Christmas cards, used canning lids, etc.

A closer look at these.  They are made from scrap rounds of wood, and misc. craft supplies I had on hand at the time I made them.  They were a special order for a blog follower who later backed out of the order.  Thus, they were shoved into a container.

I started making these ornaments maybe 4-5 years ago??  Mom gave me old wooden spools, and a blog I followed mailed me the cross-stitch paper, and I hand stitched the center part, sewed the mini yo-yo's and created these with the intent to gift one to each siblings family.  It never happened. One, they all don't have a tree anymore, and it was mentioned I gifted way too many already.  

All of the ornaments found a new home now.  A few were mailed to friends as a surprise "Christmas in July" snail mail.

I had these random granny square keychains leftover from years of craft shows, and as part of my "Christmas in July" surprise mail (really purging a box and came up with the idea), 3 people got one in the mail (randomly picked), and I left the remaining ones in various locations with a note (Random Acts of Crochet Kindness/Christmas in July).

The storage container is empty and will be re-purposed for another use.

No new purchases for the advent gift project, but I do need to get to the store for scotch tape and start wrapping what I do have already.  

I have one Christmas treat recipe I may be trying soon.

Christmas book read in July . . .

I will rotate in some more Christmas books soon.  I have more on my shelf to read.  I really liked this book.  I found myself giggling often with the main character's "ghost"  haunting him.  A much different book, but I really enjoyed it.  The book was in a large box of books I bought for $6 at an antique store (very early in the year).                            

21 Weeks Until Christmas   ©  July 2025 by Kristina at Pioneer Woman at Heart

41 weeks until Christmas ~ Christmas Shop and Other Fun News

 New Recipe Tried?  I had a recipe in the lineup to try, but after reading the "notes" I decided not to try it.  It was a Puppy Chow recipe, but used freshly made popcorn vs. store bought cereal.  It said to store it in the freezer and consume straight from the freezer.  Not really a winter go-to Christmas treat if you ask me.  The recipe stated the popcorn goes soft after you coat it, so hence we ditched the idea.

However, I purchased a trial size of Christmas Jam to try.  I know it won't taste like a home canned jam, but if we like the taste, I may look into any good recipes similar to it.

We do can a jelly at Christmas that everyone absolutely loves - it's a cinnamon/candy apple flavored jelly.  It's definitely not made with healthy ingredients (ha ha!), but I do not know one person who does not like it at Christmas.

The jelly is called Cinnamon Cider Jelly - Recipe on my blog.

I finally convinced my husband that we needed to visit the largest Christmas store in our state (open year round).  They decorate it beautifully, and we are told there is much more on display and for sale, the closer it gets to Christmas.  I purchased a few tree decorations, and plan to go back (love this store!).  The store has 3 floors.  Prices are rather high, so you have to really consider your purchases here.  By the way, we have been to the famous Bronner's in Michigan, and we like this store better.

I also purchased a new tree ornament at an antique store.  It was an inexpensive, whimsy purchase.  I do make many crocheted and handmade ornaments, but thought it was pretty glittery and would look nice on our tree.  If not, it will make a nice gift for someone (the husband is not too sure he likes it, ha ha).

I have purchased two more advent gifts (the ones above are small journals I snagged for $1 each) for the advent calendar.  I think I will plan to save paper bags to use for wrapping the gifts with.  I believe this puts me to 6 advent gifts per gift bag.  I'll have to get wrapping and re-count them.  I'm trying to stay with useable gifts.

Gulp!  Guess what I did ha ha ha ha!  Oh boy.  I bought a box of 18 Christmas books that I have not read.  Not sure I'll get them all read this year, but I'm stocked up for a while now.  Good grief, I should not be buying more books.  Cost of the entire box was $6.00, and some look brand new.  I thought for sure I had read the Clark book, but according to my book journal, I have not.

It has taken a few years for me to find my joy in the Christmas holiday since Mom passed away.  I found so much joy in planning her homemade gifts, or other gifts, and when she passed, my joy for the holidays passed with her.  I'm finally in place where I can enjoy it, and now crochet and donate lap afghans to those who need them or can use them, and that brings back my joy (Mom constantly got compliments on her lap afghans, and expressed that to me often).  

Thank you Anne in the Kitchen for inspiring me along the way to a fantastic, upcoming Christmas this year too.   

41 Weeks until Christmas ~ Christmas Shop and Other Fun News ©  March 2025 by Kristina at Pioneer Woman at Heart