Blah Humbug

Crikey, it is such a nasty day here on the prairie. *sigh* Sometimes I think I would be happy living in Hawaii, where the sun shines almost every day. Then I remember things that occur in Hawaii, like earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and hurricanes. Nope. I guess I'll just stay here for a few more years.

I do not like this time of year. I used to like it, when I was younger and had a sense of wonder. But now it's just too stressful, too commercial. I detest going into the stores right now. There was a story on one of the local news channels about how this year we seemed to move from Halloween straight into Christmas, with no Thanksgiving. Did you notice? There wasn't much said about Thanksgiving itself, and little was said about Thanksgiving sales (what happened on Black Friday?). I totally understand why craft stores start putting Christmas items out in July, but the grocery and hardware stores?? That started in September!! And the stress, oh my stars, the stress is just horrendous. T-mas is already feeling it, which makes me worry about him. It's not just monetary stress, either. There is the stress of which house do we go to on which day, traveling when we want to stay home, putting up with things we'd much rather not, what should we get for whom, etc. And I'm a bit sad that Thanksgiving was just glossed over. I appreciate that day, even if it is solely an American holiday. It reminds me that I should be thankful for all that I have, like a good husband and wonderful children, my supportive family, a good house, food to eat, loving friends. If we could channel some of the appreciation for what we have, rather than the commercialism of the season (which grows longer by the year), back into Christmas maybe it wouldn't be so depressing for so many people. By the way, A pointed out to me that we could make presents for everyone this year and boy, is she ready to get started! She may have an idea there.

So, on this dreary, wet, cold, dismal day during this overly commercialized, stressful time of year, I leave you with some tasty links.

Melanie at Earthenwood Studios has this great ornament in her Etsy shop. She has several "queen" ornaments, so there is probably one for each of us! She also has a wonderful step-by-step post on her blog of how the ornaments are made.

Heather Powers has free gift tags with her original art on her Humblebeads blog.

Suzanne Cooper has some holiday freebies on her site. And free box templates which are just the right size for jewelry here. A few bright spots in this horribly dreary day. I'll post more as I find them. I hope you are having a good day, wherever you are.