Christmas? Did I say Christmas? Yes, I surely did. I know it’s tacky to talk Christmas before Thanksgiving, but some gifts take time to prepare and complete. That’s the case with this. In real life, I am making my vanilla sugar before Thanksgiving in order to give it a full month to absorb all that flavor so when it’s opened at Christmas people will open the jar and get a head rush from the heady scent of vanilla. And yes, I will share the recipe so you, too, can make easy, inexpensive homemade Christmas presents. But on to this Christmas present for our readers.

Christmas is coming, the goose is getting fat
We want to highlight you – you can even wear a hat.

Gidge and I are resuscitating our Guest Stylist feature that got lost when I was so sick last year. So, readers, if you would like to style yourself up and let Gidge or I shoot you and feature your styling on the blog, contact us to set up a time. Since the It’s Only Fashion family is pretty anarchic, Gidge will post her own guidelines for how she wants you to contact her, etc. If other members of the team want to join in, they will post their own invitation as well. For me, you can send me an IM and drop a snapshot of you in your outfit, so I can find a good location in advance. Don’t worry about whether I am on or off-line, I have im’s go to email when I am off-line so your message won’t be lost. I will get back to you and we can schedule a shoot. For the shoot, you will need to give me a notecard with your styling info and, of course, you can add any comments you like for me to add to the blog post.

Now – about that Christmas Vanilla Sugar. I buy some Mason® jars and clean and shine them up. I cut a pretty red and green cotton square that I will place between the round seal and the screw top for a little decoration. I buy a bunch of high quality whole Madagascar vanilla beans. I half fill a jar with ordinary white sugar, place one bean in the jar and then finish filing it. I screw on the pretty cap and let it sit until Christmas. By then the sugar will have absorbed the flavor and aroma of the vanilla bean and be the most delicious sugar for tee, coffee and for baking. Throughout the year, your friends who have received their flavored sugar can top the jar back up and that little bean will keep giving them flavor for months – running out of steam just in time for Christmas next year.