December Daily - DONE

For the first time - possibly EVER - I finished my December Daily album before January! I still need to order it, but I'm waiting for finish my two 2012 year in review albums for the Grandmas. And I really want to get them all done & ordered by Jan 15th since Blurb has a 15% off coupon through then.

Day 22 - Christmas 1 (and 2) - Visiting Extended Family



Day 24 - Christmas Eve at my parent's house



Day 25 - Christmas Day at our house



Day 29 - Visiting my in-laws



End of the album - Bryony the Elf.

December Daily Update

I'm still working on December Daily. I also just ordered three weeks worth of pictures for Project Life, so expect some updates next week!

Last time, I ended up a blank facing page. Well my mom sent me an email about taking Claire shopping for Christmas presents for Justin, Anaya & I, so I decided to include that. I'm not sure which day they actually went shopping, but I don't think it really matters - it's in the place of Day 14.



Day 16 - Cookie Decorating Party



Day 18 & 19 - Wrapping Presents & Claire's class party



Day 20 & 21 - SNOW



Now I have Day 22, 24, 25 and 29 left to do. I don't really have anything for Day 23, so I'm skipping it. And I'm including Day 29 since we're going to see my in-laws for Christmas on the 29th and I want to include that. I also need to throw in a page about Bryony (our elf on the shelf) at the end of the book.

I'm so excited to be almost done and I can't wait to order my book and see how it turns out!

December Daily - Days 13 & 15

Day 13 | Christmas Lights



Since Anaya wasn't here to look at Christmas lights, we ended up only going to Paulie's Penguin Playground. It's basically hundreds of inflatables, most of which feature Penguins. It's massive, takes up the person's entire front & side yards. There are inflatables on the roof - EVERYWHERE. Insanity. But Claire loves it. And it's kind of fun. And they take up a donation for Leuekemia Lymphoma Society.

I'm not sure yet what I will do with the facing page here. I didn't really do much of anything December 12th or 14th, but the 15th required 2 pages, so we'll see. I'll probably just make a "pretty" page.

Day 15 | Downtown



It started out as a trip to Crown Center to see the Mayor's Christmas Tree. Probably make a run through Kaleidoscope since Anaya loves it and maybe the aquarium since Claire loves it (and we have season passes). It turned into a five hour trip of craziness. Ended up going to the City Market first to their annual WhoVille to get a picture with the Grinch. Then on to Crown Center for lunch & seeing the Mayor's Christmas tree. I took my mom with me, so after lunch we split up and Claire & I went to the Aquarium to see Scuba Santa (yes, that is Santa & an elf under water in the Shark & Ray tunnel!) while Anaya & my mom went to Kaleidoscope since Claire hates it. Then I wanted to go inside the Holiday Express train that was at Union Station, but the line was so long (seriously at least a 2 hr wait), so I went ahead and got our season pass for next year and used it to get tickets to Science City where we hung out for an hour or so. We were all exhausted by the time we got in the car to head home.

This year I am doing my December Daily project as a 7x7 Blurb book. I'm designing 7x7 images in photoshop and then I'll just use each 7x7 image as a page in the book. I'll design the pages with a slight border around the images (probably in white) that way I don't lose part of my text when the book is printed. See all my December Daily Posts.

December Daily: Days 10 & 11

So I took a few days off from working on this. No particular reason beside burn out followed by the feeling of needing to catch up first. Unfortunately I have also fallen behind with Project Life. The last week that I completed was Week 48 (Nov 26 - Dec 2), which I STILL haven't posted online. Argh, I hate feeling behind.



Day 10 | Christmas Movies

Claire's favorite Christmas movie this year is Mickey's Twice Upon a Christmas. She doesn't call it that, of course. She kind of calls it Mickey Mouse, or Popup Book (because the way the "stories" are introduced at like a popup book), or something about skating because her favorite story is about Minnie & Daisy ice skating. The picture of all the movies was actually taken this past weekend, a few days after the 10th. I was waiting on an Amazon order to arrive with some new Christmas movies before I made the page.

Day 11 | Christmas Cards

This year I mailed out 22 Christmas Cards. I ordered 25 (because that's how many came in a pack), I have one that I'm keeping that I'll put in my Project Life album, one for Claire's preschool teacher that I will send in to school and one that is just a spare.

This year I am doing my December Daily project as a 7x7 Blurb book. I'm designing 7x7 images in photoshop and then I'll just use each 7x7 image as a page in the book. I'll design the pages with a slight border around the images (probably in white) that way I don't lose part of my text when the book is printed. See all my December Daily Posts.

Menu Monday

Last Week

Monday - Leftovers
Tuesday - Cashew Chicken
Wednesday - Homemade Pizza
Thursday - Tuna Sandwiches
Friday - Peppercini Pork Sandwiches Mac & Cheese
Saturday - White Chicken Chili Peppercini Pork Sandwiches
Sunday - French Toast Burgers from Culvers

This Week

Monday - Leftovers (Peppercini Pork)
Tuesday - French Toast w/ Bacon
Wednesday - Homemade Hamburger Helper
Thursday - Potato Corn Chowder w/ Homemade Bread
Friday - Chicken Fried Steak w/ Mac & Cheese
Saturday - Leftovers
Sunday - Sausage & Egg Breakfast Pizza

I'm having Menu Monday burn out.

December Daily - Intro & Day 9

Day 9 | Painting Ornaments

This year I am doing my December Daily project as a 7x7 Blurb book. I'm designing 7x7 images in photoshop and then I'll just use each 7x7 image as a page in the book. I'll design the pages with a slight border around the images (probably in white) that way I don't lose part of my text when the book is printed.



We do this every year. I'm not sure if we'll continue this tradition much longer though. Anaya seems to be mostly over it. Claire isn't into it. Since Claire isn't into it yet, as soon as she is done (which is usually after about 5 minutes), I can't do much. Which leaves Justin (who doesn't really care about this in the first place) as the only one left painting his ornament. But it is fun to be able to look back at our past ornaments.

I also finally did the inner title page. I knew what I wanted to do, but I had to wait for Anaya to be here to get the picture! And I LOVE this page. Love love love love love love love it. This would be a great Christmas card picture...if I hadn't already ordered (and received & addressed & stamped) my cards.





See all my 2012 December Daily Posts.

Menu Monday

Last Week

Monday - Crockpot Chicken Salsa
Tuesday - Stadium Brats
Wednesday - Chili Cheese Tater Tot Casserole
Thursday - Leftovers
Friday - Crockpot Pizza Soup
Saturday - Chicken Tikka Masala Breakfast Casserole
Sunday - Breakfast Casserole Chicken Tikka Masala

I was OUT of salsa (not sure how that happened) so I ended up throwing some other stuff in the crockpot and calling it good enough (although it ended up not really being that good). Then I switched Saturday & Sunday because we (I) wanted to go to a Living Nativity on Saturday so I didn't want to spend a lot of time cooking.

This Week

Monday - Leftovers
Tuesday - Cashew Chicken
Wednesday - Homemade Pizza
Thursday - Tuna Sandwiches
Friday - Peppercini Pork Sandwiches
Saturday - White Chicken Chili
Sunday - French Toast

We have quite a few leftovers from Friday & Saturday, so we're going to have to clear out the fridge by eating leftovers on Monday night. I'm really enjoying homemade pizza - we'll probably do Chicken & Bacon with a white sauce. Tuna Sandwiches were not originally on the plan (I make dinner menus once a month), but we were out of Mayo and the store had it on sale for $1.98 with a coupon to get $2 off if you bought 2 cans of Tuna and the cans of Tuna were on sale for a $1 each. So either the Tuna or the Mayo was free...now we just need to eat it. The last time we had Peppercini Beef, Justin requested that we try it with Pork, so we'll do that on Friday. I haven't made my normal white chicken chili yet this winter, so it's time for that. Then a few weeks ago I made some amazing french toast from a recipe I found online. It was so yummy that I have been craving it.

December Daily - Day 8

Day 8 | Santa Train

This year I am doing my December Daily project as a 7x7 Blurb book. I'm designing 7x7 images in photoshop and then I'll just use each 7x7 image as a page in the book. I'll design the pages with a slight border around the images (probably in white) that way I don't lose part of my text when the book is printed.



This year, instead of going out to the mall to see Santa, we drove out to Baldwin City and rode the Santa Express! The train ride was MUCH longer than we expected - almost 2 hours instead of 1, but we had a pretty good time. Claire got to visit Santa - this was actually her second Santa visit since she saw him a week ago when we went on the Luminary walk. She asked him for a Bike (a pink one) and he gave her a Candy Cane.

I did buy a 5x7 picture of her with Santa, but I'll probably just include that in the Project Life album since this is a digital book. I took one picture of her with Santa - not the best picture, but I like it.



See all my 2012 December Daily Posts.

December Daily - Day 5, 6, & 7

This year I am doing my December Daily project as a 7x7 Blurb book. I'm designing 7x7 images in photoshop and then I'll just use each 7x7 image as a page in the book. I'll design the pages with a slight border around the images (probably in white) that way I don't lose part of my text when the book is printed.

Day 5 | Jolly Design

I was planning to do Christmas Movies for Day 5, but I didn't really like the pictures that I took. I still have my journaling ready for when I do a page about watching our Christmas Movies - probably sometime next week. Instead I designed this fun image. Once I get the book, I will probably use a pen that will write on the pages and circle the number 5...or not.



Day 6 | Dear Santa

Tonight, Claire & I wrote her Santa letter. We flipped through the latest catalog from Toys R Us and picked out some toys that she wanted. Then I cut the pictures out and we taped them to her big piece of paper. I did the writing (obviously) but we wrote her name together.

She wants: A Pink Bike w/ Training Wheels, LaLaLoopsy dolls & movie & video game (although I only see a DS game and she doesn't have a DS), a Train Set and Care Bears.

Day 7 | Decorating the Tree



We wanted to wait for Anaya to be here to decorate the tree. Tonight after dinner, I turned on some Christmas music, pulled out the box of Christmas ornaments (including our new ones for this year) and we started decorating! Anaya could remember which ornaments were hers and which were Claire's. I didn't pull out my box of childhood ornaments as we have accumulated quite a few for our family. I surprised Anaya with a Justin Bieber ornament, I just handed it to her as the next one to hang up.

And I admit it, I made the girls change clothes before we started decorating. Claire's shirt had paint on it and Anaya was running around in a BRIGHT green tank top.



See all my 2012 December Daily Posts.

December Daily - Day 4

Day 4 | Around the House

This year I am doing my December Daily project as a 7x7 Blurb book. I'm designing 7x7 images in photoshop and then I'll just use each 7x7 image as a page in the book. I'll design the pages with a slight border around the images (probably in black or "kraft") that way I don't lose part of my text when the book is printed.



Since Day 3 was a single page layout and I really didn't have any pictures for today (I was at work all day and then had happy hour with some co-workers so I wasn't even home until almost 7pm), I ended up just doing a single page with some pictures that I took of our decorations over the weekend. I like having this as the facing page for the Christmas tree, seems kind of fitting.

This is the first year that I've really done much mantel decorating and I really like what I did. The wreath, trees & "ornaments" on pedestals are all made out of the pages of a couple of books. The wreath was originally going to be for Halloween, but I never really finished it with bats & such. So I put it on the mantel. The trees were next. Then I wanted some red so I made the ornaments and bought three black candle stick holders to set them on. I was digging through my Christmas closet and found the blocks that my sister-in-law made for me last year and figured they looked good with everything else. I knew I wanted to do the JOY frame, but it still needed a little something on the right, so the nutcracker & the vase with stems stuck it in are from Hobby Lobby.

Some Links:
Paperback Book Christmas Trees - I mostly followed these directions for the first one, then I got tired of folding the pointy part up into the book & Justin said that leaving it hanging down made them look more like Christmas trees.

Book Page Ornaments - I didn't run the cord through it to create a hook & I painted the edges of mine and rolled them around in glitter.

Subway Art + Holiday To-Do List - I changed the To-Do list a little bit because I didn't want the designs they had for the list part.



See all my 2012 December Daily Posts.