Christmas in July

It's early July and the June heat-wave is over at least for this afternoon. What better time is there to start thinking of Christmas? This is a good time of year to begin preparing for the upcoming holidays.

I used to collect Christmas ornaments and still have quite a few. Most of them are cats. Here's one by Irene Spencer in honor of our Siamese kittens. Does anyone remember the program Personal FX on the FX network?

When on vacation summertime or any time, a collector, like a beader, finds a way to scout out shops where they're visiting, places that might carry what they're passionate about. Nowadays, when I'm off on a trip, I ask if anyone knows of a bead shop, something like that near where we're going.

This is a good time of year to start making jewelry for sale at holiday shows and fairs later in the year. A friend and I are getting ready for a home jewelry and art party.

I sit with fans blasting as I work at the jewelry bench sorting, looking for just the right pearls. Sometimes I listen to some Christmas music for inspiration. Someplace I have Bing Crosby and David Bowie's singing Little Drummer Boy. It seems like just yesterday that we saw the Christmas Jug Band.

It's fun now to order special festive holiday bags, bows and boxes to use at holiday-time. If I focus enough, maybe we'll actually feel a chill even though it's getting into the triple digits on some days this summer. :-)