Bring on the Holiday Season!

     As I stated in a previous post, my current student teaching/grad school schedule has left me little time for anything but homework.  However, the Christmas season draws closer which means it's time for me to make some time!  I have always been a big fan of the Christmas season.  I love the music, the weather, finding those perfect gifts, the fact that people always tend to be a little nicer that time of year and of course, the time off from work! 
     You can always tell when it's the holiday season in my house by the smells... a fire burning in the fireplace and daily smell of fresh baked goods.  While it's a little early for the baked goods, my husband and I did start up our fireplace this past weekend and it was fabulous!  Here are some photos from last year's Christmas season...

The tools of the trade.  My kitchen, and especially my dining room, are in a permanent state of messy-ness at Christmas time but it's totally worth it!

I tried a new recipe for gingerbread men last year and as you can see, they turned out great!  No molasses !

There are 18 varieties of cookies pictured here, but I think the grand total came to 23 varieties last year.  Mmmm...

     Now that I have reminisced about last year, it's time to talk about this year.  My brother had a huge yard sale a few weeks ago and I was kind of bummed to see him selling this really cool toy that Larry and I had given to my nephew Elijah for Christmas the year before.  While I understand that kids grow out of toys and clothes, it's kind of a bummer that they grow out of them so quickly.  This year, I have decided to make quilts as Christmas gifts for a few of the kids.  I know quilts don't light up or have cool TV commercials, but I figure that they will still be great gifts.  If the quilt is made well (which mine always are of course) and isn't too childish, it can be a gift that the kids really can keep forever!  I spent a few hours at JoAnn Fabrics this weekend picking out fabrics (Larry was kind enough to accompany me) and have already started working.  I just finished the quilt top for the first one.  It's for Becca, a rambunctious 3 year old with a love of bright colors.  I decided to go with a rainbow strip bargello quilt for her.  I wasn't able to find any light colored cloud fabric for the border strips so I went with a wispy turquoise fabric instead.  I'm thinking about doing a blue "nighttime" fabric for the backing... kind of a night and day thing. 

The quilt top

A close up of some of the fabrics.  I just love the bright colors and patterns :D

     Well, I think that's all for right now.  I am still deciding on which type of pattern I plan on using for the next quilt on my list.  I am definitely going to go for a block with that one as opposed to the bargello. 

     I hope that this has helped get you into the Christmas spirit and, as always, feel free to leave me comments or suggestions!