yep, already!

Christmas is coming, people! Don't worry, before you go thinking I'm all on the ball and everything, this is the absolute only thing I've made for Christmas.  I make a different ornament every year.  You may remember these boots, or these birds, or these cupcakes.  This year, I'm going with this little guy:

Suuuuper cute.  I'm going to make about 25 or so out of some of these beautiful Heather Bailey fabrics. The pattern is in the Sew Sunny Homestyle book if you want to check it out.

On to a more season-appropriate topic :)  I have a LOT of Halloween costumes to make this year, yikes! Layla wants to be Minnie Mouse, Natalie a fairy, Casey Obi Wan and Kelby is going to be Yoda.  I think I'm going to be a clown.  I like this pattern, although I'll make the dress a little longer, so I'll be church-party appropriate :)

Here's the one Natalie likes.  She wants the white one on the bottom right because she loooves things that go down to her toes :)

For the others, I'm going to piece different patterns together and make them up as I go.  I know it seems like a lot of work, but I LOVE making costumes! And, I always get more use out of the kids' costumes.  Both the cupcakes are spoken for for this year and the clown costume got three years out of it, by three different kids.  And, the girls wear dress-up clothes more than regular clothes, so it all seems worth it :)

Back to Christmas, though, we could use advice:  do you try to save up a chunk of money to spend at Christmas, or do you buy one gift every week or so for the few months beforehand? Do you keep gift lists for everyone? We've been managing money very carefully since Casey got a job and just want to make sure we avoid over-spending on Christmas due to lack of planning.  So, thoughts, tips??