Merry Christmas Friends!  I hope your holiday season and bright and full of the ones you love and those things that are most important.

These past few days have been a whirlwind of celebrations, gifts, and time together with family.

But most importantly, it's been an opportunity for me to reflect on what an amazing Gift that was given that first Christmas.  Jesus gave Himself to this sinful world, as a way to be redeemed.   The weary world rejoices!

Hope your Christmas was wonderful!

December Daily: Days 8-10

Today I am sharing December 8, 9, and 10 in my December Daily Album!

It's CHRISTMAS EVE!  How did this month and Christmas season fly by so fast?   I am not worried at all about being "behind" in this album.  There will be plenty of time to fill in the blanks after Christmas.  I am allowing myself to be present in the moments and document later.

For Monday December 8th I added our Christmas Card.  This is the backside of the enlargement from December 7th, so I added a gold transparency to mount the card.

Is it obvious I love grid designs?  Even our Christmas Card is a grid. :)

On the right side I highlighted the gold by using a gold doily to place the date.  I went to Costco with my friend Jennifer this day.  I am a member at Sam's Club but I am thinking of doing both Sam and Costco--- so this day was a test run :)

December 9 (tuesday) and December 10th (wednesday).   I am not going to lie, this week was SO busy with different events I was volunteering at at the kid's school.   It's easy to get overwhelmed, but when you turn on the news and see an alumni from your school (and where our kids currently attend), Dr. Kent Brantly, be named among TIME Magazine's Person of the Year... you know your spending your time in the right place.

Tuesday we had Todd's dad over for dinner before he returned to Florida.  We had a great visit with him this year!

On Wednesday the 10th I was at school THREE different times for three different activities.  But this was also the day I found out that, Dr. Brantly was named TIME Person of the Year.... what an exciting thing for our Christian School!

Thank you for swinging by- - Merry Christmas Eve!

See more of my December 2014 here.  See my completed 2013 album here.

December Daily Days 4-7

Today I am sharing December 4- 7 in my December Daily album.

I finally had time to sit down and work on my album--- because I have nothing else to do two days before Christmas.  haha!  But seriously, I have had little time to craft this month, and sometimes, no matter how much I have to do, I just HAVE to stop and have a little creating time.  It is good for my soul!

Here you can see December 4th and December 5th.  It's always interesting when going through my photos and deciding what to focus on for the day.   For instance, December 4th, I had some photos of Jordan and gymnastics, yet I went with the Peter Pan image.   When the day was said and done and we had a chance to sit down and watch a little bit, it was truly the most relaxing moment of the day.

That and I loved the blue star theme going on--- Second star on the right and straight on 'til morning!

December 5th was a our girls craft night with a few of my girlfriends.  We stayed up until after midnight making ornaments with our photos.  We were so bummed that we didn't take a photo of all of us, however I did take this photo of the (crazy) table.  Puppy chow, glitter, wine.  That about sums it up.  I kept this page fairly simple.  I used some October Afternoon Papers and large number.

The (saturday and sunday) weekend had MANY activities I could highlight, so I decided to journal about it all on the right and include just two photos.

The bag is from Starbucks- I picked up over the weekend and then saw many people using them in their December Daily albums- perfect!

I just love this photo of Todd hanging lights on the tree.  He knows how much I love having these lights and he spent a lot of time doing this for me.  Thanks love :)

I will get this album done.  I will get this album done. :)    Thank you for swinging by- - Merry Christmas Adam!

See more of my December 2014 here.  See my completed 2013 album here.

December Daily: Days 2 & 3

Today I am sharing Days 2 & 3 in my 2014 December Daily album.



This month is zooming by, isn't it?   I feel more behind in this album, than I did last year, but that's the way it goes some years.  Just go with the flow is my motto this year!



December 2 was an ordinary Tuesday.  I was making dinner and then I heard the Nutcracker Suite in the living room and found Jonah and Jordan dancing their hearts out.  I knew immediately that was my story of the day.   A couple of years ago I picked up these Nutcracker Postcards at Anthropologie.   I used several Elle's Studio Stamps here.  (the Merry Christmas Stamp Set, Warmest Wishes Stamp)

December 3 was a Wednesday.  I journaled a bit about our Wednesday Night Dinner (which is a year round thing) and also shared a photo of the Flying Cupcake treats I bought (I actually bought them tuesday- shhh;).   December Journaling card is from the Good Cheer Journaling Cards.  

The "Love this Time of Year" Sentiment is from the Merry and Bright Exclusive Stamp Set and the hearts from the Warmest Wishes Stamp.  The large star is by Heidi Swapp.  I placed it in a pocket along with some other sequin and veneer stars and sewed it closed. 

Thanks for swinging by today!  

See more of my December 2014 here.  See my completed 2013 album here.

That is Christmas.

I have to admit, losing that week between Thanksgiving and December has thrown me for a loop this year!  I feel scattered, behind, and downright CRAZY at times....

But then I have my super-busy husband who will stop everything and hang these lights on our out-door trees. his thoughtfulness blesses me!

and I have this sweet girl who is decorating every inch of our house.  Tonight I found Kroger plastic bags of "gifts" (some of her toys she has outgrown) under our tree that she wants to give.  her generosity moves me!

and this boy.  he wakes up every morning super excited to search for our elf "fishpan" and totally believes in Santa and all the magic of Christmas.  he and his sister have  deep discussion on how "fishpan" gets to his destination each morning (if only they knew their mother wakes up at 4am in panic that she didn't move the #*$! elf).  Not sure how many more years this will last but cherishing the moment we are experiencing right now.  More than anything, I am discovering that his heart is sold out to Jesus and this is what gives me the greatest joy as a parent.


Christmas can come with so many preconceived notions of grandeur.   Stepping back and really being in those moments, and letting go of the "perfect" has truly allowed me to embrace the joy of Christmas.

Because when it all comes down, Christmas is not about the perfect tree, the beautifully decorated home , and the carefully selected gifts.

It's about the perfect baby that chose the dirty manger to wash my wretched soul.

That is Christmas. 

December Daily | Day 11.30 and Day 12.1

Today I am sharing the first two days in my December Daily album: November 30th, and December 1st.


The Christmas Season begins for us when we go to the Millbrook Tree Farm and get our Christmas Tree over Thanksgiving weekend.  That usually falls somewhere in late November, so I go ahead and add it in our album as the first day.

I saved a piece of the twine that's used to tie our tree on top of the car and sewed it into the pocket.  This page looks very similar to last years page- and I kind of like being able to see how it's the same event but the kids are one year old.  

Behind this page you can see more journaling and a family photo from our Tree Excursion.

The journaling card is actually from Elle's Studio's December Monthly Kit which will be released on Wednesday!!!  (It's an AWESOME kit!)

The right page is December 1st.  Our beloved Elf-- named Fishpan-- arrived and was making a snow angel on the kitchen table Monday morning.   Being the good elf he is, he cleaned up his mess while the kids were at school, and i didn't get a photo of it :)    They kids just love looking for him every morning.  It's such a fun part of December. 

To see my 2014 Cover Page- click here.

December Daily 2014 | Cover

Happy December 1st!   I can't believe the Christmas season is upon us once again!

Today I wanted to share the cover page(s) to my December Daily album.

Like last years cover page I used a coin protector page as my cover page.  I love adding bits and pieces to these pockets and it provides for a nice cover page.   Papers, flair, wood veneer, chipboard, tags, transparencies, stamps.... I love to make it all blend together for a festive look.

Here's a view of the page on it's own.   I used mostly Elle's Studio Good Cheer products, along with bits and pieces from an October Afternoon kit I bought a long time ago (the plaid paper, and the word stickers).   The flair button is by Carta Bella, and the snowflake by Basic Grey.   The star wood veneers and sequins are by Studio Calico. (I can't remember the source for the transparency).  Everything else is by Elle's Studio!    

Ali Edwards provided a free "the reason why" printable on her blog this past week.  I loved that this provided a place to journal what I hope is reflected and remembered through this album (and every album I make:)

I trimmed the paper down and backed it with gold striped vellum (which i am obsessed with:).

As I work my way through my December Daily, I hope to share a few chunks of completed days at a time throughout the month of December.   You can check out last years book here. 

Don't forget to stop by Elle's Studio this month for tons of inspiration and giveaways as we Celebrate December.   (I have a fun post going up today!)

Millbrook Tree Farm

Today we visited Millbrook Tree Farm- a Thanksgiving weekend tradition that has been going for 6 years and counting!

We drive 45 minutes north to visit Millbrook every Christmas season with our dear friends the Carpenters to pick out our Christmas tree.

This is one of our first family "traditions" we created on our own.... and it is truly one of our favorite days of the year.

We have our special routine with the Carpenter family where we meet at Starbucks to pick up hot chocolate for the road and head to the tree farm.  Afterwards (or today it was before the tree farm) we eat at a family owned BBQ restaurant.   Nothing beats the smells of pine trees and BBQ!!!

I first met Melody when Jordan was eight days old.  She is a photographer in Indy and I had called her to photograph Jordan's newborn session.  Little did I know she had a little girl born only 6 weeks earlier and that they would become the best of friends.

They were calling each other "sissy" all day today :)

I so treasure our friendship Mel!

Our obligatory family photos in front of our Christmas trees.  Our husbands are such troopers to oblige to our photos/ tree indecisiveness / and prolonged chit chats in the tree farm fields.

Below you will see all of our family photos except for the first year we were there (ummm we had a 20 month old and almost 3 year old... family photo was not on the agenda i guess! lol!).  This was today (2014-2010).  and yes. we like to repeat vests.  frequently.

And below are the pics of all our kids together beginning with 2014 (2010 and 2009 were just of my kids (or just one kid), because, um, we were trying to just keep track of everyone at that point (see above). :)

it breaks my heart a little to see how much changes in a few short years.  the days are long but the weeks and years fly by don't they?

so thankful for these traditions!  What are some of your favorite holiday traditions?

Celebrate December

December is right around the corner and I am thrilled to be participating in Elle's Studio's Celebrate December event again this year.   Along with a few other amazing designers....

There will be tons of projects and inspiration using our Good Cheer and our exclusive kits and extra add ons!  I can't wait to share them with you!

Besides having giveaways throughout our event, where you’ll be able to do things like leave blog comments, like our facebook page, tag your instagram friends, etc. to be entered to win, we also have THREE GRAND PRIZES (show above) to give away.

To enter to WIN one of the THREE grand prizes just complete the following:
– Visit our Member Gallery- Log in and upload your project
– Tag the Elle’s Studio items used
– Make sure to write in the “description” that it is a “Celebrate December entry”

That’s it – we are keeping it super simple so everyone has a chance to enter! And, here’s the best part… you can start uploading NOW, and you can enter as many times as you want (must be a different project per entry)! The three GRAND PRIZE winners will be drawn on December 31st, 2014 and entries will all have a chance to be featured on our blog, even if they don’t win!

It’s going to be an incredible season and we can hardly wait for December to get here!

The fun begins December 1st-- make sure to swing by Elle's Studio to check it out! 

Happy Thanksgiving!

These two little turkeys wanted to stop by and say Happy Thanksgiving!!!



I hope your Thanksgiving was wonderful and you are enjoying this holiday weekend.  We are just busy eating, watching movies, and spending time with family and friends.  I hosted a "Friendsgiving" last weekend and yesterday we had 28 at my mom and dad's house for Thanksgiving (and that's not even everyone in the family!)



 
Um, and apparently we all like Thanksgiving Props.  Or something.


 

In the meantime i have been having computer issues which is why it's been a little quiet around here.  Hopefully soon I will be up and running.

Hope your Thanksgiving was wonderful!