I have gifts purchased for my nephews - I have yet to pick them up but I'm hoping for snow so I can get a night of skiing in at the same time I pick them up. (I got them a pair of ski passes.)
I've bought the yarn to make a sweater for my Dad for Christmas. I won't start it until December, though, since I'm still making Naughty Deer hats for someone (3 more to go) and when I get those done, I'm making hat and mitt sets for Christmas Cheer. I have 5 sets done, with a couple more hats done that need the mitts to go with them.
I have bought the present for my friend's daughter - the only one I buy for. But I am planning on visiting some friends over the holidays so I'll make sure to take some cookie trays with me for them.
So the only gift I have left to buy is my brother and he's given me some ideas so that shouldn't be too bad.
I start baking this weekend. I'm making loaf cakes for my Dad's Church Bazaar next Saturday and I'll make a set of little loaves with each batch. They'll be gifts for my coworkers and maybe stocking stuffers for my family, depending on how many I make. I'll make some chelsea buns, too, and put a couple of those in the freezer to have for Christmas breakfast. Once the bazaar is over, I start making my Christmas cookies - 3 kinds of shortbread, pecan balls, almond crescents and decorated gingerbread cookies. I give a bunch to my Dad for him to use on his trays that he gives out. He makes his own oatmeal raisin and gingersnap ones, too.
I do Christmas cards in front of the TV, usually the first week of December. I type out a letter with all the general stuff then add a short personalized note to each card. I have 30 to 40 to do so it takes a couple of evenings but then it is done.
My Dad and I make mincemeat rolls together. I make the pastry, he makes the mincemeat filling. We get together and I roll out the pastry into circles, he puts on a dollop of the filling and rolls up the pastry, pinching the ends. We usually make around 200, putting them in the freezer and baking them as we want them for ourselves or for gifts. I make sure I save enough pastry to make a couple of raspberry pies for Christmas dessert.
I've already made my cranberry sauce because I made it for Thanksgiving and put the extra in the freezer. So that's one thing I don't have to do.
