My birthday happens to fall on Christmas Eve, which I’ve always felt was rather special. People expect that it would be a drag because I’d be shortchanged on gifts and attention; but not so. Most of my friends and family, assuming that, go to extra lengths to make sure my birthday is not forgotten. Except – there was the one year my older sister gave me one slipper for my birthday and the other for Christmas. Well, I didn’t think it was funny then.

May you and yours feel the special love that Bobby so aptly described. Whatever your traditional winter holiday, may it be happy and filled with love!

Gift Bags & Other Holiday Crafts
In the November Digest, I described the wine and other gift bags which I sew. Some readers asked for pictures. So I wrote a complete article and included some pictures. See it here. They’re very quick to make, so you may still have enough time to sew a few.

If you’re looking for some quick last minute Christmas craft ideas, check the November Digest which can be found by clicking here.

If you're looking for some quick and easy Christmas crafts you can do with your kids, you can find some patterns here.

Personalized Holiday Bookmark
I received a letter from a kindergarten teacher looking for software and instructions for her class to make personalized bookmarks as holiday gifts for their parents.

I thought it was such a good and easy craft idea, that some of you parents and grandparents might be interested.

The sample design I sent Evelyn featured Christmas ornaments that can be filled with the children’s photos or colored in by the children after printing. Click here for step-by-step instructions.

Use your imagination. With computer graphics and the user-friendly programs I recommend, the sky’s the limit.

Custom Calendars
Whether for family or for sale, customized calendars are a wonderful project to make this time of year.

You can personalize calendars for your own family, using photos of family gatherings, heirloom photos or photos of the kids at various ages. You can easily input all family members’ birthdays and other special dates.

Can you imagine anyone who wouldn’t treasure such a personal and useful gift? They’ll think of you every time they glance at it or need to look up some special day.

If you want to make calendars for sale, your imagination is the only limit to the possible theme(s). Use your own artwork. Use clip art or scanned pictures.

Seasonal recipes with photos would be neat. So would just seasonal photos. Theme a calendar around popular hobbies: gardening, cooking, model railroads or poetry.

Please visit How to make an Artistic Calendar to learn how.

Personalized Cards for Christmas, Chanukah, Kwanzaa, Whatever
Anyone who has a greeting card computer program knows how easy it is to create custom cards for every occasion; how to add the recipient’s name and their own signature.

But many don’t know how to make their own line of cards by creating a logo and printing it on the back. To find out how easy it is to do, click here.

Crafty Christmas Cookies
Years ago, I came up with a design for Christmas wreath cookies that always garner lots of oohs and ahhs.

They’re made with spritz dough (see my recipe below), dyed deep green. Using a cookie press with the small starburst template, pipe circles about 2 ½ inches in diameter.

Cut candied cherries in half. Each half will form the bow and hanging ribbons for one wreath.

Cut two larger triangles for the bow and two thin triangles for the ribbons. Be warned: this is sticky work. Have a damp cloth handy to wipe your fingers from time to time.

Attach the bow pieces (shiny side up) to each wreath. Use gold and silver dragees or cinnamon red hots to simulate berries and ornaments on your edible wreaths. Bake and enjoy!

Eileen’s Never Fail Spritz Cookies
1 cup butter, softened
½ cup + 1 tablespoon sugar
1 egg
¾ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
½ teaspoon almond extract
2 ½ cups flour
Food coloring, dragees and/or cinnamon red hots

Blend in egg, salt, extracts and flour.
Knead until soft and pliable.
Knead in food coloring.
Using cookie press, press dough onto ungreased cookie sheets and decorate.
Bake at 400 degrees about 8 minutes.

Makes 6 dozen.

Promises Kept
Sometimes making a promise is enough incentive for me to get around to something I’ve been meaning to do for a long time.

In last month’s digest I mentioned that I want to become more proficient at glass painting. I bought some glass votive candle holders over a year ago and still hadn’t gotten around to doing anything with them.

I thought an etched interior, washed with gold or silver paint would be really pretty for the holidays. If it worked, I promised to share the idea with you in my next newsletter. Thank you for being my nudge!

To see the result, Gold-Washed Etched Glass Votive Candle Holders.