December 12/ Day 11 Christmas Journal

I was inspired by another member's art journal to create the tree. I love the way it turned out! The photos are squares that show snippets of ornaments on our tree.

The journaling is hidden behind the photos and reads:

12-11-06
O Christmas Tree

One of my favorite things about Christmas is our tree. A few years ago we decided to go ahead and get an artificial tree after years of real ones. We had a near house fire one year when Chris decided to burn the tree in our fireplace. He forgot to open the flu… you can imagine the rest! I was adamant that I wanted a tree that looked as real as possible. I am very happy with this one. I love the fact that we can put up our tree whenever and not worry about it dying too soon. This year we put it up right after Thanksgiving!

I have a very sentimental tree. Sometimes I long for the perfectly coordinated tree, but in the end I really love the way we do ours. Maybe some day we will have room for two trees and one can be fancy and the other can have all of the important ornaments. Each year since Chris and I started dating, we have bought an ornament. There are cutesy couple ones as well as others that just have the year on them. I love taking each out of the box and remembering the year we bought it. I also have ornaments from former students, student teachers, friends, and coworkers. I love that our tree has meaning.

Chris always puts up the tree and strings the lights. He wraps the trunk with lights which makes the tree glow from within. I love to get up in the morning and just turn on the Christmas tree lights. I love the warm feeling and glow that it emits. Even as a child, I would sit with just the tree lights on.

Simba, Romeo and Patches all love the tree as well! We have to keep all breakable ornaments above tail height… otherwise Romeo’s tail manages to break them. We usually have at least one casualty each year! Simba loves the sleep under the tree. Patches doesn’t seem to care one way or another anymore!

I look forward to adding ornaments made by children in the future. I hope to be able to tell them about each ornament as we hang them on the tree.


I didn't get todays prompt started at all. Had to shop for Holiday Buddy at work as well as a secret santa gift for one of my online groups. Both of them need to be sent tomorrow! Becky is coming over tomorrow after work to work on the gifts we are making for coworkers. Not sure I will get to post at all...we'll see!

Still caught up.. but too tired to post!

I am still caught up! Day 11 is done, but I must head to bed!

I also did a mini album and ornament for a client. Only got a few hours of sleep last night. Bears game is on, but I will NOT be staying up to find out the results!

Have a great night! Will post day 11 tomorrow!

ALL CAUGHT UP! Day 8

Going to bed now! :-)

Christmas Journal Day 9

Decided to go out of order again. :-) Boy does it feel good!

Was hoping to get all caught up, but it is 9:30 and almost my bed time. I did get three days done today, though!

Here is day 9:

Pretty simple... these were the scraps that I still had on my desk! The tags hold the traditions I could think of in a random order (or as they popped into my head!)I did do the page in the wrong direction, too... but I am embracing my mistakes and using them as creative interpretations!

Cookie Exchange was fun. Came home with some great cookies and my peanut butter balls were a hit! Everyone loved my recipe cards, too!

Back to work tomorrow. Grades are due Tuesday morning. At least we have an early release tomorrow afternoon that our principal is "giving" to us for grades. Hope to get all done so I can come home and play tomorrow. Still need to do the Christmas Cards too!

Christmas Journal Day 7

Was able to crank this one out... journaling was already done and the idea was in my head. :-)



The journaling reads:
12-07-06

Christmas Shopping…

I have never been this far behind ever! As of today, I do not have a SINGLE gift bought! I do have the materials to make a few gifts for coworkers, but that is it. Strangely, I am not panicked yet. We really can’t afford to do the shopping until our next paychecks anyway. We’ll see how I feel a week from now!

For the first time, my extended family agreed to draw names. We have talked about doing it for years, but everyone was finally on board this year. I am happy with it and think that it will work out in the end. We are each to spend $50 on the person we have selected. In exchange, we are to tell that person what we would really like to get. This way we are all spending less money and getting something that we really want. Maybe the fact that I only have to buy for two people instead of everyone is helping ease my panic?

I always want to do something extra special for Chris. Somehow I want to make up for all the lousy Christmases he had as a boy. However, it’s just hard to surprise him with anything. He also limits the amount of money I can spend and then goes and spends twice as much on me! We also fill each other’s stockings. I am already thinking about some goodies that I want to put in there this year. Maybe that will be how I am able to surprise him!

Off to start the laundry and make the ornament for the cookie exchange tonight. Need to see if Chris is awake yet, too!

Day 10/ Christmas Journal DAY 10!

See... this Christmas Journal is already making me less stressed. I just did a page OUT OF ORDER! I still need to do days 7-9, but this one spoke to me and I knew it was easy. Shimelle knew just what I need to get motivated today!

Today's prompt was simple... wrap your page in your wrapping paper, add a bow and a tag. Then create a SHORT journaling section about your wrapping traditions. I haven't been short on one yet. It was hard, but I just let myself be brief!

So here it is:



The wrapping paper is from Hobby Lobby. I fell in love with it as soon as I saw it. Not very traditional, but that is ok with me!

The journaling reads:
12-10-06

I love wrapping presents… at first! The first few packages are usually very pretty with ribbon and bows. As it gets closer to Christmas, I usually just wrap quickly.

I try to pick a wrapping paper that reflects my personality. It is usually bright and cheerful like this paper. I use different wrapping papers for different groups of people. This helps me organize the tree and know exactly which presents to take when.

When I was a child, I remember that Mom and Dad always had a different wrapping paper from Santa. There was usually one for me and a different one for my sister. Santa never used bows! I am sure that is because mom and dad had to wrap all of those presents after we went to bed on Christmas Eve!

I am also heading out this afternoon for a cookie exchange hosted by one of the swim team moms. There is a reason I am so crafty... it makes up for my lack of cooking/baking ability! It took me over 2 hours to make these peanut butter balls. I overmelted chocolate, burned the butter... The recipe is really easy. I decided to make pretty recipe cards to go with them because I needed to restore my self esteem!



Back to work on catching up on the Christmas Journal. I might even post again today!

Quick Post

Only have a few moments to post...

**Staff party last night was a great deal of fun. We got home around 1:00 am and Chris was back out the door this morning at 5:00 am. Meet was in Dekalb, 2 hours away. Think he will be sleeping in tomorrow!

**Did some shopping this morning. Now I can say that I have started!

**Off to Chucky Cheese.... EEEEEEEEK! My sister is having the kids birthday party there tonight. Will only be staying for a SHORT time!

**Made peanut butter balls for cookie exchange tomorrow. Lots of work, but will be worth it... I hope!

**Officially behind now on Christmas Journal... but that is the plan for tomorrow and maybe even tonight. We'll see!

Off to the insanity that is Chucky Cheese on a Saturday night in December.....