happy at home

CHRISTMAS IN SEPTEMBER

I realized the other day that I need to get a jump start on Christmas planning. Some of you, like my mother, probably shop for Christmas year around. I am not that organized. I always have good intentions but they sort of fall flat. I want to get started early this year for a couple of reasons
-To make it less financially burdensome...much easier to enjoy Christmas if you aren't broke in December!
-To have the time to thoughtfully plan out what to give each person on my list
-To allow time to make things by hand
-To have the opportunity to purchase things when they go on sale, or as I find them in non-retail environments.

I would like to do a lot of my shopping on etsy this year. There are so many lovely things on there, handmade by self supporting artisans, and I really want to support that. Besides, who wouldn't want some wonderful handmade goats milk soap, a hand knitted sweater, a set of embroidered napkins? One year I gave all my friends homemade vanilla extract in cork topped glass bottles. I don't know if they liked it or not...I hope so...and I really enjoyed making and giving them.

I want to plan out my gift list, as well as food I want to make and have around for the holidays, what traditions I would like to introduce this year, what social obligations we will keep and which we will bow out of to enjoy family time at home. I feel that if I plan these things out now, it will be much easier to enjoy the holidays rather than making decisions about these things as we go along. Plus, we will be taking our family vacation in November, and I would love to have enough of the shopping/making/preparing done that we could spend our evenings wrapping gifts, writing out Christmas cards, sewing, etc.

I would also like to have a box or basket by the door, with sweetly wrapped little gifts to send home with friends and family that drop by during the holidays. I am not sure yet what this will be. Divinity? Sourdough bread? Fudge? Soap?
I need to think of something that will be universally enjoyed by anyone that comes by...so it should probably be some food item. Any ideas?