These are the scarves I made for Bernd’s co-workers for Christmas. Unfortunately the sparkles don’t show up in this shot.

My mom used to have all her Christmas shopping done really early. It seems to me that she had it all figured out by the end of August. And if that was not truly the case, then for sure she was all done with it by the end of October.

Not only was everything bought, it was wrapped and tagged, and greeting cards were signed and sealed. She was very efficient. When we still lived in her house, we always knew she was doing it and where she kept the finished products. We never peeked … well mostly.

Mom died at the beginning of December in 1983. While going through the mobilehome and cleaning out her stuff for her husband, my sister and I found a stash of Christmas gifts all prepared just as I have said. We had no idea she had done this. She’d been so ill toward the end, we never imagined she found the time or the energy to put together a Christmas for all of us.

We had all pretty much decided to skip Christmas that year. But when we found that stash, we changed our minds. It’s something I think about every time I get Christmas gifts together.

The white flecks are actually the sparkles.

This year, I am also ahead of the game. Last year, I scrambled to get all the hats crocheted and gift bags put together. This year, I made scarves … again. But this time I used a new-to-me yarn. It has metallic sparkles in it. Very festive. I did each scarf in a different stitch, one of which is my own invention. And I am going to make earrings to match the colors of the scarves. I’ll have the earrings done before the end of August.

Mom would be proud.

This could have been my mom’s motto.