Favourite Things Friday: Christmas Edition, Part I

Christmas! The very word brings joy to our hearts. No matter how we may dread the rush, the long Christmas lists for gifts and cards to be bought and given — when Christmas Day comes there is still the same warm feeling we had as children, the same warmth that enfolds our hearts and our homes. –Joan Winmill Brown

Christmas is an amalgamation of so many of my favorite things. So Favourite Things Friday this week and next will be a few of the things I love about and at Christmas time.

Christmas Music
Music is a favorite of mine year round, and I love that Christmas comes with its own special collection just for the season. But since you can only listen to Winter Wonderland and Silent Night so many times without going round the bend, I do have a strict policy that the Christmas music doesn't start playing until the day after Thanksgiving and ends at bedtime on December 26^th. Playlist didn't have everything I wanted to share {Merry Christmas From the Family is a lot cuter when the Dixie Chicks sing it}, but this is still a pretty great compliation {Twisted Sister singing Silver Bells is priceless}.

Christmas Sewing
Christmas is a really great season to sew all kinds of things, whether you'll keep them or give them away. And I love sewing in either of those categories. Under that heading, these are our Christmas stockings. My mom and I {kind of} did this project together. We each bought a pattern, which included two stocking designs, and we bought our fabric together. Then we cut everything out together, but we each worked on getting them put together separately. The stockings and cuffs are made of flannel and the black background and appliqué pieces are wool felt. I added 1 strand of gold blending filament to the floss for the blanket stitch and the embroidery. I wanted to personlize our stockings so I put our names on them instead of the little Christmas phrase that came with the pattern. The patterns came from American Quilting and were designed by shop owner Amy McClellan. I had a quick look at their on-line patterns but didn't see these. I'll bet if you called or e-mailed, though, and asked for the Under the Garden Moon Christmas Stocking Patterns, they'd fix you right up.

Christmas Dishes
Since inheriting my Grandma's china this spring, eating off fancy dishes on Sundays has become a favorite thing at Bug Cottage. We've decided to step it up a bit for the month of December and eat off the Christmas China all month long.

The thing I love most about this Christmas china was the price. The set included 8 each: dinner plates, salad plates, bowls, cups, saucers, salad forks, dinner forks, teaspoons, tablespoons, butter knives and glass tumblers and the hostess set with an oval serving platter, large serving bowl, gravy boat, salt and pepper shakers, large slotted serving spoon, large serving spoon, gravy spoon, meat fork and pie server all for $50. Seriously. I bought one set, got home and decided that it would be totally worth it to get another set at that price. When I went back they were gone, so I checked another store and when they were out, I called my mom and had her check near her, also without luck. The Little Bugs think it is so cool to eat cold cereal out of Christmas china dishes.

Christmas Specials
I love watching Christmas movies, even if they are cheesy made-for-TV specials. I scan the listings for old favorites and watch for new ones. And there is one special this year that I'm particularly looking forward to. It involves a certain Doctor, who I may have mentioned I have a little crush on. Or maybe I left the crush part out and just mentioned Dr. Who. In any case, Christmas means two whole hours of The Doctor. Matt Smith does a decent job as the 11^th Doctor. But I really think that it is his companion, Amy Pond {played by Karen Gillian} who makes him work as The Doctor. After watching them for a season, I'm really looking forward to this year's Christmas special. It promises to be an amazing trek across the universe with special guest Michael Gambon {who looks different without the long white beard and half-moon spectacles} in a time traveling version of A Christmas Carol. The best thing of all is that this year, BBC America will be airing the Christmas special on Christmas Day. I've got my DVR all set. And I'm super happy that last year for Christmas, Mr. Bug upped our Dish package for me so I'd have BBC America and be able to watch Dr. Who. It is the gift that keeps on giving.


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