Finished at last!

At last I have finished my Christmas 2008 Journal! I found it much harder to do this year as I have done it for the past two years! It was difficult to keep up and to find new and different ideas to put in it. Maybe I will have to think of something completely different for Christmas 2009.

Title Page

Here is the cover and title page for my Christmas Journal. I enjoyed doing it again, although found it a bit harder to get into this year. It was also rather difficult using this book as it didn't open straight and I either had to struggle and glue things on one-handed or make the page and then stick it on. But I managed and am pleased with the results.

Finished

Finished and only one day late! On 2nd Jan we went to see Joseph at the Edinburgh Playhouse, it was brilliant. Andrew and John are now going round the house singing the songs (I don't think either of them have a future career in the music industry!).

Instead of making New Year Resolutions this year (cos I always break them!) I decided to follow Ali Edwards this year and choose one word for the year. I have chosen 'Positive' to be my word for the year. I am going to aim to have a positive attitude about all parts of my life this year.

Hogmanay and New Year

Catching up fast. I have done my pages for Hogmanay and New Years Day. My Mum and Sister were down for New Year this year, so we had a party! John stayed up for the Bells and his first taste of Champagne!! Our first foot was a little teddy all dressed up in tartan, bearing Matchmakers and we even had some dancing.

For breakfast on New Years Day we had Bucks Fizz and croissants (very nice) and then a lovely dinner of roast venison. A lovely time was had by all.

Another 4 days

Managed another 4 pages today. On the 27 I went for a Myofascio Release Massage, this was a very different experience from other massages that I have had. It was more theraupetic, but it was good and although I was sore afterwards I think it has done a lot of good. So I will be booking another session soon.

Playing Catch Up

Been busy playing catch up with my Christmas Journal. I have now managed to do up to Day 26. The kids go back to school tomorrow and I dont start work till Wednesday, so what I dont do tonight I will finish then - Im not giving up!

Journal Day 16, 17 & 18

Still playing catch up with my Christmas Journal.

Day 16 is from my Advent Reading Notes.

Day 17 is of the boys with the silk painting pictures they did as part of their advent activities. The pictures were ones my sister brought back from Germany several years ago. The boys loved doing this.

The prompt for day 18 was Food. I love eating cake and chocolate at Christmas, but I am going to try and be good this year and not eat too much!!

Journal Days 13, 14, 15

Having a very productive night tonight - getting my hair done today must be good for me!

Day 13 was about presents

Day 14 was Chrismas Music. I decided just to pick one song this year, 12 Days of Christmas. This is still Andrew's favourite Christmas song.

Day 15 was about Visitors. I had this stamp and thought it would be just right for today's prompts.

Christmas Journal Day 11 &12

Another two pages done for my Journal.

The prompt for Day 11 was your Tree, as I had taken photos of my tree last year I wanted something a bit different. I like this paper with lots of trees on it, so have printed out the words of O Christmas Tree.

Day 12 is of Andrew with his Snowman paper chain, which was one of the boys activities from their Advent calendar.

Today was a quiet day in their Advent Calenders as I thought we might need a bit of catch up time. They could choose their favourite Christmas game on the computer to play. Joke was Why did Santa spell Christmas N-O-E?: Because the angel said 'No L'!!

Christmas Journal Day 7,8,9,10

Had a busy night - managed another 4 pages for my Christmas Journal.

Day 7 is about shopping - its much easier doing it on the Internet now.

Day 8 is about the weather. I always think it looks nice if it snows at Christmas, but not so good if you are travelling. The inspiration for the tag on this page came from Tim Holtz 12 Tags for Christmas.

Day 9 is from my Advent Hope readings.

Prompt for Day 10 was wrapping paper - so kept this page nice and simple.

The boys Advent activity today was a Quiz about Christmas songs. The joke was: What do you get when you cross an apple with a Christmas tree - A pineapple!!

Advent Update

Day 14 of the boys advent activities was to make small Christmas trees out of card. Day 15 was to put up the tree and to read the poem Twas the Night Before Christmas. Day 16 (today) was to do silk painting pictures. These were really good, they were pre-printed Christmas scenes and the boys really enjoyed doing them.

I have managed to do another page in the Christmas Journal, it is of the boys with their Hama Beads decorations.

Journal Days 4 & 5

Yes, I know I'm still a long way behind, but never mind I'll get there.

Day 4 is photos from the first activity the boys had on their advent calendar - to paint Santa candle holders.

Day 5 is Christmas Cards. I decided this year I really only had time to make cards for the immediate family, so have bought all mine.

Christmas Journal

I'm getting going, slowly. I have managed to do another two pages of my Christmas Journal. I have changed the order of some of Shimelle's prompts and will be adding some of my own ideas as well.

Day 2 is the text of Isaiah 9 and the title Hope from the Past comes from my Advent Reading notes I'm trying to follow this year by Joel Edwards.

Day 3 is Advent Calenders. I love advent calendars and have actually got a chocolate one myself this year. The other picture is of the one I have done for the boys with their daily activities in it.

Christmas Journal

I finally managed to get started on my Christmas Journal for Shimelle's Journal 2007. I have done my first page, which is like a Manifesto or declaration of intent. The journalling reads:

I Intend to keep a Journal of my Christmas this year. This will be my second year of doing this.

I Hope that by doing this I can record the things that are different and the things that remain the same each year.

I Believe that Christmas is a special time, which it is good to remember the birth of our Lord Jesus, and the Hope that He brings to our lives.

I am finding the prompts a bit tricky this year as so far they have been the same as last year and I dont want my Journal to be an exact copy of last years, so I may have to change them about a bit and do some pages differently.

The book I am using is a really nice one that I got from Tearcraft. It is tied with red cord and is a lovely red Christmassy colour. I have still to do something on the cover and do a title page and pages 2,3 and 4, but at least I've started.