The best-laid plans ...

... are often interrupted. I have lots of knitting projects to share, but I managed to break my toe last Saturday. That has complicated a few things, and it's not so easy to get around and take pictures at the angle I usually take them (i.e. on the floor).

I'm getting around quite well, though, so I expect to have pictures taken before too long. But don't worry about me if I'm missing for a few days. I'm not sick or dying! :)

On another note, I have most of my Christmas gifts assembled and/or wrapped. (That's what I was doing when I cracked my toe off the caster on my computer chair.) We collect gifts throughout the year as we find good deals, and I tend to make things throughout the year, too. It feels really good to have this much done already!

I'll try to get pictures of some of those gifts to share, too, in case anyone needs some inspiration. I've done a lot of collection-style gifts this year. I'd call them basket-style, but I'm not using baskets. Basically, I've collected a few gifts in a certain theme and/or color, and I tried to package them attractively.

I'm trying to be more organized this Christmas. In addition to the gifts mostly wrapped, I made a list of all the Christmas treats I want to bake this year. Then I collected my recipes and wrote down all the extra ingredients I'll need to make them. I expected a huge list (my baking list is pretty long), but I have a lot of it on hand already as pantry staples. I'll buy the rest of the ingredients over the next few weeks with leftover grocery money.

You may be wondering how on earth we do all of this and still homeschool. Well, for the last few years, I've planned the entire month of December to be a break from schoolwork. Between visiting out-of-state relatives, all the extra activities that December brings, and actually celebrating Christmas, there aren't many days left to do schoolwork. Besides, Christmas is my favorite time of year, and I want to enjoy it! We make up for this by starting earlier in the year and taking fewer days for holidays like Thanksgiving. Although we don't have to count days for homeschooling in my state, we do end up doing the same number of days as anyone else since our curriculum runs for the same number of weeks.

Well, that's about it for now. I'd love to know how your Christmas preparations are coming!

P.S. In case you think we've skipped Thanksgiving this year, we haven't. We're doing a full traditional meal and including a lonely woman from our congregation in our festivities. I have everything purchased and ready to go, so I'm looking ahead to planning the next major holiday ... but we will take time to be thankful this Thursday!