The Christmas Mania Wrap Up And Chance To Get A Christmas Gift

You will have to forgive me my Christmas mania. I am like a child this time of the year: I enjoy baking cookies, making presents, letting my fantasy express itself fully while wrapping the gifts, decorating the house and the tree. Do not worry. My life doesn´t stop - in the middle of all this I still train my dogs according to schedule, write articles, take care of the household, cook for the crew and do the "normal" things and work.

The thing is, that I do have the luxury of making Christmas what I want it to be, and truth to be told I feel it as my priority to make everyone in the house happy, feel the magic, coziness and warmth of this season.

What I mean by that is that living off the grid makes us not get stressed and depressed by the long ques in shops, dozens of people bumping into you, all the so unnecessary rush. We kind of live in our own little big world. Not that we never go to town, but when we do so, we plan it for a quiet day, we take a walk through the center, look at Christmas lights, get inspired in decor shops, window shop, go for a Laté and a cake in a Cafe, and buy an occasional gift when one perfect for a particular person hits us, or get inspiration to make our own gifts.

I believe it is all also about planning. In prior years, I confess that I usually ended up picking up a few kinds of cookies in the store. This year we made 8 kinds of Christmas cookies, plus I baked healthy cookies for all the dogs too. 

Do I have more time this year than before? Opposite is the reality.

I planned to do 1-2 kinds each week in the four weeks prior Christmas. That´s about an hour per week spent baking cookies. We made four different types of cookies from one dough too :)

Plus two bottles of Eggnog. :)

With the help of Lucka and Katka (our handler crew) we decorated all the flower pots by the windows plus those hanging outside and in the kennel, already in October.

On one of the training runs we picked a few trees, ran over by the forest machines in the heavy logging area, and we brought them home once the snow covered the ground.

Our tough financial times have somehow, unbelievably, made us enjoy Christmas more this year. Isn´t it funny? Often we hear people complain about lack of finances and thus not looking forward to Christmas. We proved that it´s irrelevant. Thank to our situation, I enjoyed getting ready for Christmas this year more than ever before! I dug deeper in my fantasy, made gifts, wrapped them in an old, traditional way (look at my 12+ DIY Christmas Gift Wrapping Ideas post).

I enjoyed quiet evenings by the fireplace, painting handmade Christmas cards, using every coupon and discount offer for groceries there was to not exceed the food monthly budget and the decorations - there is so much stuff out there you can do from branches, cardboard, paper, rope, cones, rose buds, dried berries, dried oranges and so much more! Here are some tips on how to decorate naturally for Christmas.

As a matter of fact, I believe that this all is the reason why I enjoy Christmas and getting ready for it so much more this year. I learned to look at situations and see them as opportunities. Thank to that, I became more handy, more productive, feel more positive and happy, relaxed and grateful. And realized things I always wanted to do, such as handmade cards, handmade gifts, etc.

So bear with me please, I just love sharing the Christmas spirit, when I get a chance :)

And now, I would also like to give a little Christmas gift to you, my readers.

I will send a I will send a little DIY Christmas gift to three of you, randomly picked. Just let me know the following, in a comment below:

1. What is your favorite Christmas movie
2. Which one of the 20 DIY Christmas Gift Ideas you like the most
3. Which one of the 20+ DIY Christmas Decorations Ideas is your favorite
(Related links are all listed in this post, above)

Your chance to get a Christmas present from Katerina´s Journal Blog is even bigger as:

If you click and "like" Katerina´s Journal blog on Facebook, from every ten new likes, one of you will be randomly selected to get a Christmas gift as well!  This is valid until noon, December 25, 2012 ECT.

If you have not seen It´s A Wonderful Life",
you should. The wisdom, beauty and kindness is
what we all need to get surrounded by sometimes.

These Are My Top Favorite Christmas Movies:

1. It´s A Wonderful Life

2. Miracle on 34th Street

3. Elf

4. Christmas Vacation

5. Fred Claus

6. The Grinch

What are yours?

So don´t forget, Your chance to get a little DIY Christmas gift is here for 48 hours. Good luck!

Have a great day, everyone!