02 July 2011
06 January 2011
Final JYC Post for 2010
I put the finishing touches on my Journal Your Christmas album today. I am pleased that I actually finished it before the end of my holiday break. I know that once I am back at work, and the kids in school, that I won’t have time to scrapbook much, so I’m especially glad to finalize the project.
I’ll be ordering my bound book in the next few weeks. I can’t wait to see the finished project. This will be the first all-digital, bound book I’ve done for our family. I’ve done gift albums that I’ve given to others, but this is just for us.
Since I’m doing so much digital scrapbooking these days, I’m thinking I may just do more and more of these type books. They take up a lot less space on the bookshelf and it is so much easier to just order the bound book when you’re done.
I am considering doing the same for my 2010 pages. I have to finish from August-December and that will be my next project, I think. Once those pages are done, I’ll probably go ahead and make it a bound book as well.
Do any of you have suggestions for ordering a bound 12x12 book? This Christmas one is 8x8 and I’ll probably order it through Creative Memories. But I would love to do some price comparison (and quality comparison) on the larger 12x12 books.
Any suggestions?
Here are the final few pages I don’t think I’ve shared with you:
This is the last page of the book. I love it.
30 December 2010
Taking down Christmas
Most years, I’m not anxious to take down the Christmas decorations. Most years, I leave everything up at least until January 6th (the feast of the Epiphany, which is when my mom and grandma taught me you were supposed to take down your decorations). Most years, I love looking at them and hate to take them down and store them away for another year.
This year, though, they are driving me nuts and it’s not even a week past Christmas.
I wonder if it is because I’m not feeling good – or maybe because we’ve been more house-bound than normal because of the wretched weather we’ve had. I’m not sure. But I do know that they have to go – and soon.
On our recent outing to Wal Mart I purchased some of those cutesy red and green Rubbermaid tubs. I am hoping to talk Big Girl into helping me put things away in a little more organized fashion this year that we have in years past. As I lay awake at 4AM this morning, waiting for my cold meds to kick in, I was planning out how we’d pack everything away. (how sad is that?) Outside decorations in one container, ornaments in another, etc.
I’m hoping to have enough energy to get started on the cleanup today. I’d really like to get it done before New Year’s – I know after school/work resume next week, it will be really difficult to find time to get things tidied up.
Once the Christmas decor is put away, I’m trying to decide what I want to do. I have a bunch of snowmen that my mom has given me through the years. Back in November when the Christmas decorations were going up, I thought I’d put those snowmen out in January for a little decorations to welcome the new year. Now, I’m not sure if I want the clutter or not. I may opt for streamlined simplicity.
When do you take down your holiday decorations? and what do you do afterwards? Are you one of those “day after Christmas and it’s all gone” kind of people, or do you leave the decorations up longer?
28 December 2010
a White Christmas
For the first time since the 1850’s we had a white Christmas this year. What a treat to watch the snowfall on Christmas day and enjoy the girls frolicking in the snow that afternoon. I’m not sure who had more fun – the girls, or Syndey, though, as she was in puppy heaven – romping and jumping, eating snow and sliding in the sloppy mess.
Here are a few pages I scrapped Sunday – while watching the birds on my birdfeeder as they tried to fill their little bodies to stay warm. I’ve got a pretty nasty cold, so it was nice to stay inside, in my jammies, toasty and warm while I scrapbooked and watched the snow blowing around outside.
23 December 2010
Makin’ a List
Total stream-of-consciousness post today…
Watched Eat, Pray,Love last night. I thought it was really good. There were a few slow parts, just like there were in the book, but overall it was a good movie.
I have to say that Julia Roberts is aging well. I think she still has that vulnerability that makes her such a bankable actress, but she is showing some maturity and, oh, I don’t know, “seasoning?” to her acting now. Or, maybe it was just the part? I’d like to think she is maturing… she is only a few years different in age than I am.
Still have no presents wrapped. How sad is that?!?
I am hoping to get them all done today. Planning on staying up late if I have to so I can get them done.
Only one more necessary outing before Christmas – a trip to the bank and stop at the grocery for a couple things that we didn’t get yesterday. (must go to a different store as my usual place didn’t have them in stock)
Baking, cooking, and relaxing on tap for tomorrow. SuperMan is off for his usual three-day weekend, so we’ll be enjoying the day together and finishing it up at dinner with some friends and their family. I can’t wait. It is an annual tradition we’ve done since before we all had kids!
More JYC pages done:
I blurred out the actual items on the list because I am not positive Big Girl doesn’t read my blog. No sense in taking chances. :-)
I’m also including the “year in posts” from Facebook. I think it is a great year in review:
I saved the image from Facebook and added it to a digital scrapbook page along with some journaling.
And a few of you have asked – yes, these are all digital pages I’m doing. My plan is to have an 8x8 book printed in January sometime.
So, what are your plans for the rest of the week? Are you running to and fro to visit folks or are you staying snuggled up at your own house? Or somewhere in between?
21 December 2010
Sights of the Season
More Journal Your Christmas pages. I’m getting caught up slowly, but looking forward to getting more pages done once my holiday break begins on Thursday afternoon. That’s how I want to spend my free time ~ scrapbooking!
Journaling reads:
There are many things that signal the oncoming holiday season for me. One of them is the "changing of the guard" (so to speak) at Starbucks - when the Red Cups are introduced. That's when you know all the yummy holiday drinks are out and it's time to sneak a trip to Starbucks when you are Christmas shopping.One of the other signs of the season for us is when our neighbor farmer puts up his hay "Snowmen" in the pasture. We watch impatiently after Thanksgiving and it's always so much fun to drive by and see they are finally there! Poinsettias are also a big sign for me that Christmas is here. This year, I ordered a huge one from a fundraiser at South Forsyth. I was so excited to get it and love looking at the bright colors.
Journaling reads:
One of my most precious Christmas decorations is this Christmas tree. My Great-Grandmother Achord made this in her post-stroke program one year. I love it because it was made by her and it's one of the few things I have of hers. I have replaced many of the "bulbs" over the years and the girls know that it is a strictly "eyes, not fingers" type of decoration. I pack it lovingly away each January and can't wait to pull it out of the packaging each December. To me, that's one of the ways I know Christmas is really here - when my tree is lit for the first time.
You can see more of my JYC pages on Flickr
20 December 2010
Holiday Baking
I hadn't really planned to bake this year. Not much, anyway. But it seemed the closer Christmas came, the more I had the urge to bake. I finally did some baking on the 16th and then again on the 18th.
Once I got started it was hard to quit! I made oatmeal-craisin cookies, chocolate chip cookies, banana bread, chocolate meringue cookies, reindeer bark, spiced nuts, and eggnog cookies...
For someone who wasn't going to bake, I sure did make a lot!
But, everyone enjoys the cookies and the girls and I enjoy the baking process. It was fun to have their help in the kitchen this year. They are still not interested enough for hours of baking, but they enjoy helping out on a cookie recipe or two.
You can see more of my JYC pages on Flickr
17 December 2010
20 Christmas Questions
1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Gift bags as long as I can get away with it.
2. Real tree or Artificial? Artificial. Goes much better with my allergies.
3. When do you put up the tree? The weekend after Thanksgiving if we are home. If not, the very next week.
4. When do you take the tree down? January 6. The Feast of the Epiphany.
5. Favorite gift received as a child? The sapphire ring my mom and dad gave me one year. I felt very grown up and special.
6. Hardest person to buy for? Mom & step-Dad. They are like me. They already have everything they want (or they just go buy it) so it is hard to get them something new.
7. Easiest person to buy for? Little Princess right now. Barbie all the way and she is a happy girl.
8. Mail or email Christmas cards? mailed traditional cards.
9. Favorite Christmas Movie? The Santa Clause series has become a tradition in our house in the last few years. I don’t really have a favorite myself, but I love watching the girls watch these.
10. When do you start shopping for Christmas? August/September – after I recover from Back-to-School shopping.
11. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? re-gifted? probably. but I will never admit it if you ask.
12. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? Pizelles. Brings back memories of making them with my grandma and mom.
13. Lights on the tree (colored or clear)? clear all the way; although the girls have snuck a few colored light decorations in the house lately.
14. Favorite Christmas song? It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year (Harry Connick, Jr. – he can sing for me any time.) I also love Oh Holy Night.
15. Travel at Christmas or stay home? home
16. Angel, star or ribbon on top of tree? Angel – it’s actually a Boyds Bears angel bear. I used to collect them. I have all sorts of Boyds Christmas critters scattered around the house.
17. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? In the morning - the kids wake us up at some ungodly hour and we try to pretend to be awake while they open presents. I always try to sneak a nap later in the day.
18. Most annoying thing about this time of the year? The cheesy holiday movies that Lifetime and the other chick cable stations try to pass off as specials.
19. What do you want for Christmas this year? Time to do whatever I want.
20. Traditional colors (red and green) or other colors? Traditional, but in deep shades.
Want to play along? Post your answers in the comments or on your own blog and link back here and/or include your blog link in a comment.
16 December 2010
Capturing the Holidays
More Journal Your Christmas pages…
Having SuperMan housebound really slowed our entire family’s pace down this past weekend. I was actually able to scrapbook and knit!
Here are some more pages I finished:
More to come.
You can see the 2009 and the other 2010 pages on my JYC page on the blog.
14 December 2010
a Christmas Manifesto
I’m starting (finally) my 2010 Christmas album.
As last year, I’m following along with Shimelle’s Journal Your Christmas class. Loving the prompts and finding that I really do have new things to write about this year, even though the prompts are pretty much the same as last year.
Although it appears they are mixed up a bit… or maybe I am wrong? Does anyone know if she rearranges the prompts from year to year?
Here’s my first page:
Journaling:
This year, my Christmas manifesto is this:
Don’t over do.
Keep it simple.
Do what feels right.
Slow down.
Enjoy things.
Stress less.
Relax more.
People, not things.
Do the things you want to do.
Let the rest go.
I’m hoping to find a way to focus on what is really important about the season – Christ’s birth and the celebration of our Savior – and not so much on the shopping and to-do lists.
And here is Day 2:
The Journaling:
This year has been crazy with weather. An unseasonably warm fall which fell right into an unseasonably cold winter. It was as if we only had a few days of "fall" and then temperatures plummeted. After Thanksgiving, we had a rainy Friday which began the downward spiral of temps. This week, the first of December, has been bitterly cold. Temperatures are in the 20's at night and barely out of the 30's in the daytime. Rob is working outside this year and it makes for very uncomfortable working conditions. With my weight loss, I've been freezing as well, even keeping a space heater by my desk to warm me while I work (in the heated house!)The girls are hoping for snow this winter. I figure if we're going to freeze, we might as well get snow!
And Day 3:
Journaling:
I addressed and sent 50 Christmas cards this year. That is about double what I have been doing in past years. I included all the folks from church, UpStreet, and a few new friends we've made in the past year. It was fun to send cards to folks we haven't sent to before, along with the usual cards to family. I didn't get them out the week of Thanksgiving, which is my goal every year, but they were out by the 10th, which was fine for me.
More pages to come.
31 January 2010
Finally Finished: Journal Your Christmas
I finally sat down this weekend and finished the Journal Your Christmas album I’d started in December. I really enjoyed the project, I just got bogged down in holiday activities and finishing took a back seat to holiday fun. But, it is finished and I am pleased with my results. I’ll definitely be back next year for another round – now that I know what to expect, I’ll be better prepared, I hope.
Here are some of the most recently finished pages. You can see the rest in the JYC album – the link to which is located to the right of this posting.
30 December 2009
Snow – Southern Style
Those of you who live in more Northern climes (WLN!) will probably laugh at my excitement over the piddly little snowfall we had tonight. I have to agree, it’s pretty sad. But when it rarely snows and hardly ever sticks, we Southerners tend to take our snowfall with great glee.
It had been sleeting all day – pretty steadily since around 3PM. My brother (who lives in the Pacific Northwest) had gotten four inches of snow last night and my girls were green with envy. So when the sleet started to accumulate, they were excited. (as was Sydney)
Sydney was the funniest, though. She tried to eat the ice.
Buster was hiding on his bed in the house, hoping we had forgotten he was there. He hates the cold and hates the wet even worse.
The girls were already asleep when the snow started. I had to sneak out to take pictures.
Even though it isn’t much, it sure is pretty.
and now, off to bed. Busy day tomorrow.
29 December 2009
More Journal Your Christmas Pages
I’ve gotten a few more pages done today. Hoping to do some more tomorrow…
this will be the facing page for the one above:
Sleep, Glorious Sleep
One of my favorite things about the holidays is not having to get up early – well, except for Christmas morning when the kids come bounding into the room at some ungodly hour, bouncing off the walls and onto the bed, insisting that we get up! get up! Santa’s come! get up!
Other than that exception, it is SO NICE to be able to sleep late. This year, especially, since I have not been feeling that well. Generally speaking, though, I am part bear and love to hibernate in the winter (heck, I love to sleep year round!).
There is nothing nicer than nestling down in the warm, soft covers knowing that you don’t have to go anywhere or do anything until you want to. The days leading up to Christmas are certainly not that way, but those precious days after Christmas are my favorites. Lazing around with only the things you want to being the things you have to do. Chores can wait, cooking? who is cooking? leftovers, baby. But the bestest part is the napping and sleeping in.
When the girls were smaller, they didn’t sleep past 6 AM or so. Actually, until last year, that was the case. However, now they are sleeping (gasp!) until 7:30 or 8:00 (isn’t it sad that I am excited and consider that sleeping “late?”). And the best part is that their dad usually gets up with them (part of why he is my SuperMan) and lets me sleep even later. (sigh)
I’m not looking forward to getting up at 5AM next week, but I’m sure enjoying my lazy days this week.
25 December 2009
24 December 2009
How we celebrate Christmas
1. Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate?
I am the only one who drinks egg nog in our house, but I anxiously await the appearance of the little jugs in the grocery store each year and then drink the stuff very slowly so I can enjoy it that much longer.
The kids love hot chocolate and are always asking if it’s cold enough for hot cocoa.
2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree?
Santa is way too busy to be bothered wrapping presents! Besides, who wants to wait to see what he brought?
3. Colored lights on tree/house or white?
I am a white light girl. The girls, well, they like the colored. Usually, I insist on white only. This year, I compromised so we have both. All are happy.
4. Do you hang mistletoe?
Nope.
5. When do you put your decorations up?
Usually the weekend after Thanksgiving is when we start getting things up.
6. What is your favorite holiday dish?
everything!
7. Favorite Holiday memory as a child?
Dinner and opening gifts at my grandparents’ house on Christmas eve.
8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa?
That he lives at the North Pole? a long time ago.
9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve?
We used to open gifts at my grandmother’s on Christmas Eve and then our family gifts on Christmas morning. Since we have started our own Christmas traditions with our little family, we do Christmas morning gifts – followed by New Year’s opening at my mom’s (she lives too far away to visit on Christmas day). This year, they changed up on us, though and came here on the 21st! So we have had Christmas WEEK celebrations.
10. How do you decorate your Christmas tree?
pre-lit tree, homemade ornaments and ornaments I’ve collected through the years from our travels, some gold & “glass” garland.
11. Snow! Love it or Dread it?
Wish we’d get some. Never do.
12. Can you ice skate?
I can’t. Probably can’t roller skate either, although that is probably the closest I’d get to ice skating around here.
13. Do you remember your favorite gift?
I remember the year my parents gave me my class ring for Christmas.
14. What's the most important thing about the holidays for you?
Watching my girls’ excitement. Spending time with people I love. Celebrating the birth of our Savior.
15. What is your favorite holiday dessert?
all the cookies I bake (and then wear for the next few months)
Pizzelles – they are an Italian cookie. Mom and I used to make them with Grandma. Now, I make them with my girls. I love the sense of tradition and history I feel as I teach my girls the traditions I grew up with.
16. What is your favorite holiday tradition?
Oh, goodness. Decorating the tree. Baking. Christmas gatherings. Christmas cards. The quiet and anticipation on Christmas Eve after everyone goes to bed. We usually sit by the tree and look at the twinkly lights and talk about all the things that have happened this year.
17. What tops your tree?
A Boyd’s Bears Angel
18. Which do you prefer giving or receiving?
Giving, definitely.
19. What is your favorite Christmas song?
White Christmas (The Original), I’ll be Home for Christmas
20. Candy Canes: Yuck or Yum?
Yum, but I don’t eat them much anymore. Too sticky.
21 Favorite Christmas Show?
Santa Claus is Coming to Town, Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer
22. Saddest Christmas Song?
That one about the shoes. I mean, really, who wants to cry at Christmas?
Ok, now your turn! What are your answers?
Christmases Past
2004
2006
2007
2008
2009
My, oh, my.
How times fly.
That mischievous little elf…
Our Elf on the Shelf has been much into the mischief this year...
While he was getting used to us, he hung out in our wreath.
Then, I guess he got comfy, because he TP'ed MB's bedroom
(no pictures for that one,
although it was fun to hear the kids when they woke up!)
Then, he decided to take Barbie on a date:
I guess he figured he was welcome to do whatever he wanted then...
So he ate a little snack:
That is… ate a snack while perched on the ledge above our 2-story foyer
(we think he must’ve flown up there)
It’s a good thing Santa comes tomorrow night.
There is no telling what mischief he would get into if he stayed too much longer.
18 December 2009
Christmas Traditions, New and Old
I have decided that the only way I am going to finish this Journal Your Christmas album is to do it digitally. I can't seem to find the time to journal, scheme the page design and then actually sit down and do it. Especially since the kids will be home from school after today - once they are home "real" scrapbooking ends for me. Too many little fingers in the stash!
I am working on documenting our Christmas Traditions. I think I am going to end up with four (!) pages about this because we have a few new ones to capture as well as a few old ones I want to record. This book is going to be HUGE when I finish, but with the digital pages, at least it won't be bulky or heavy.
Here is my Traditions (new) page. I'll add the "old" one later when I get it done. I am waiting to take a photo on Christmas Eve for that page.
MB has been asking for an Elf on the Shelf this year. I think a lot of the kids in her class must have them and she has been hearing stories about the antics of the elves.
So, one Saturday while I was out with Ang, we got one. MB was so very excited and read the story to Ang right away. Now, our Elf, Jingle, makes a nightly journey to Santa's to report on the girls' behavior. Then he picks a spot to perch for the day and keep an eye on things. You never know where Jingle will turn up. The lights, the wreath, the bookcase. He is a crafty elf.
Let there be light(s)
Every year, we tweak our outdoor decorations just a little. This year, we did something totally different. Colored lights (for the girls) on the shrubs and SuperMan added lights to the Tulip Tree. I love it. It looks like an outdoor Christmas tree.
We also have little bitty trees on the front porch. I have seen that for years and loved it so I splurged last Christmas and added them to the decor. I think next year I will add some decorations to them (when the puppy isn't such a puppy and hopefully won't eat them all!)
SuperMan also got all of my garlands and wreath lights working this year so we have a lot of lights in the house, too. It makes things very festive and I am keeping them on pretty much all the time. I like the glow!
The stockings on the mantle are from one of my trips to the UK with work (years ago) and every time I pull them out I remember shopping in Harrod's with Mom and getting them.
I hope your holidays are filled with light, love and good memories, too!
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