December Daily done

I love to make a December Daily journal each year.  Even more than that, I love to look back over those I’ve made in previous years which contain a wealth of memories, family traditions and stories.  But of course, it’s the busiest month of the year too and I frequently find myself completely behind with it all and need to catch up from time to time.

This year, in particular, I was never up to speed with it all.

Usually, I find a pack of Christmas paper I like and buy one or two bits and pieces which go with it.  I’ve got a stack of ribbon and other shiny things and I create my own journal as I go along.  I read the blog and admire the work of Ali Edwards, so when I saw she was having some input to a 25 Days online workshop via Studio Calico, I thought I’d sign up and see what I could learn from her.

Enrolling for that class opened up the chance to buy a December Daily kit, too, and though I felt it was an expensive option, I weighed up the cost of buying all those bits and pieces and went for it.  If I say the photo shows what was left over, then you’ll guess, there was quite a bit in that kit!  Not only did it contain printed papers, rubber stamps and all the usual embellishments, there were also many files online to download, including cut files for the Silhouette.  Whilst most of it was well coordinated and worked well together, there were some anomalies and a couple of really strange inclusions, so I felt no pressure to use every bit of it.  The other downside was that none of this was available until December 1st.

When we were in Philadelphia.

As a result, I didn’t even begin until the 6th December and ever since then, I’ve been days and days behind.  Still, once I did get going on it, I found it all came together fairly easily. even if I do have to spend ages fiddling about with each page arrangement until I’m happy.

Actually, what took most time was looking through the wealth of goodies I had to choose from, deciding what I wanted to use where and what I wanted to save for another day.  The online “class” wasn’t really anything of the sort but a mere series of pdfs with ideas from a group of people to show how they used the papers and ephemera in their December Daily journals – and the Ali Edwards input which had attracted me in the first place was minimal.  Still, it was interesting to see how differently people interpreted the brief and used the components.  Being me, I couldn’t simply “lift” their ideas but had to do my own thing (though of course, at times I found I liked what I saw there and did something rather similar).

I liked many of the items included in the kit and was pleased to try out for myself some of the things I see mentioned from time to time.  I now see why people use their sewing machine to fix Thickers letters on their pages – because the adhesive on them is so poor they fall straight off the page!  They do look good, though.

I especially like the sheet of little glossy dots, three of which can be seen on the page above.  I’ve no idea what they are but I’d look for them again. Enamel dots!

Normally with a December Daily journal, the challenge is to find a set of numbers with enough ones and twos to cover the whole month.  Because this set had been put together with the express purpose of creating such a book, this was no problem at all – in fact, as you can see, there was a wealth of choices, especially for the big day!

My favourite was the set of little wood veneer tree shapes and I’ll look out for those again.  I can’t be alone in liking those, because I see they’re out of stock in most places but they will surely return.

Am I pleased with the end result?  Well, yes I am.  Was it worth the price of the kit and the class?  Hmmm… 

Five years ago, I signed up for Shimelle’s Journal Your Christmas.  It’s a once and for ever enrolment and each day in December, Shimelle delivers a set of prompts and ideas to my email inbox every day.  I don’t have to go to a website, log in or do anything else…it’s just there.  Because I’ve followed her prompts and suggestions for five years, I felt I was getting a little stale and needed a new challenge.  But guess what I’ll be doing next December?  Ultimately, I felt that this year’s December Daily journal has been very product driven.  Each page has got way more “stuff” on it than I’d usually include and though I’ve tried to use it carefully, it’s not really my style.  Actually, there’s more journalling than it appears in the photographs because I’ve hidden most of it behind flaps and in pockets.  But I prefer my pages to be more than a single photograph and an abundance of “stuff”, so next year, I’ll be back to my usual story telling style with a bit of this and that to adorn the content rather than vice versa.

But oh my, have I got a collection of resources on which to draw when next December comes around!

Sunshine

For the first time in a while, we can see shadows on the wall this morning.

I know the weather gives us plenty to talk about, but really, we have so missed the sunshine in the last few weeks that the sight of a bit of blue sky this morning is cause for celebration.  I just had to go outside and breathe in the fresh air and feel thankful not to be dodging raindrops.

These late December days are a time to savour.  No work to do, a few bits and pieces to do around the house to prepare for the arrival of our friends who will celebrate the New Year with us but generally, time for ourselves.  How selfish is that?

For me, it’s a time to fiddle about in the studio.  Maybe I’ll finish my December Daily journal today?  Maybe I’ll begin to build a new travel journal for later in the week (!)  Or, maybe I’ll just settle down with my Kindle and do not very much at all.  We have two small home made shepherd’s pies defrosting so there’s no cooking to be done and the Christmas leftovers were dealt with yesterday, too.

 

So, what’s lurking in the shadows, drawing my attention and challenging my willpower?

Overwhelmed

We’ve had a wonderful couple of days and our Christmas was everything we could have hoped for – and more. 

Quite how Father Christmas manages to squeeze so much into my stocking I have no idea, but squeeze in a lot he does and once again, the surprises kept on coming, right down to the toe.

The turkey was the best ever and even though it was the smallest we’ve ever had, we have still got plenty for sandwiches.

The cracker jokes were suitably groan-inducing – eg. what do you get when you cross a snowman and a vampire?  Frostbite!  I did rather like getting a red sports car in mine, though.

Opening presents later, we were surprised to find that in one case, someone else had opened it first! Diana, the TSA had clearly been through your suitcase pretty thoroughly, hadn’t they? 

As we sat savouring the last drops of wine, doing our best to finish every last morsel of the teaspoonful of Christmas pudding I’d persuaded everyone to try, the most beautiful (double) rainbow appeared in the sky across the valley. 

What a day.

Rainy days and Mondays

 

Christmas Eve and we have a date with a turkey – or rather, with the lady who holds the key to the cold store at our local supermarket. 

 

We checked the opening times last night and discovered that unlike some of the stores who were going to open at midnight, Waitrose was leaving it till 7am.  Did we really need to go that early?  Well, old habits stay with us and bearing in mind the scrum that was there on Saturday, we decided to bite the bullet and just go and get it over with.

But a wilder and wetter morning was seldom seen and the queue was one of the most ill tempered bunches of people I’ve come across.  Quite what happened to peace and goodwill, seasonal spirit or plain old good manners, I have no idea.

Thankfully, back at home, we have plenty of sweetness.

  

I’m going to spend the day working on my December Daily journal, counting my blessings and feeling thankful for family and friends.

With all good wishes for a very Happy Christmas! 

The days fly

I began recording the days as a result of a suggestion from my Mum that by doing so, I’d somehow be able to keep these special times forever.   At this time of the year there is so much happening, so many lovely things to do and to see, I can’t help myself but simply make the most of it all. Of course, if I’m busy doing then that doesn’t leave much time for recording.  Hence the lengthy silence at this end.

Well, of course, I am recording it all, just not quite in the finished state.  I’ve got folders of photographs which tell the story of secret santas and party games.  I’ve got little piles of tickets and programmes from choir concerts and other bits of ephemera which will eventually find their way into my December Daily journal.

I’ve got records of meetings and rather more serious training events, to which I did my best to bring a little seasonal cheer.

Thankfully I have no battle scars from braving Oxford Street on the busiest shopping day of the year.  Well, we walked all of a hundred metres or so, keeping our little group of family and friends close together amidst the excitement of it all, on our way to an early supper and Tra’s recital. 

A huge surprise to find familiar faces on the front page of Vietnam+ then, but even greater amusement when Google Translate offers “Mark Thomas in a province west of the capital, near the coastal city of Bristol, and his wife train more than two hours to get to London.”   Most important, however, were the great reviews today!

Sadly, Diana had to return to Los Angeles yesterday but we brought Mary home with us and have settled into an easy week-before-Christmas routine of a little light mooching about local places and fiddling about in the studio and kitchen, talking twenty to the dozen, catching up and making plans.  Oh, and watching the last series of Downton again with Mary, ensuring she gets a head start before it’s shown in the USA after Christmas. Jane, you should be here too!

So for now, we’re savouring the days and leaving the recording of them till there’s more time, when the house is quiet and I can sit and recall how lovely it is to be home in all the twinkle.

The little “topiary” dog in the photo above made us smile, the more so when we walked a little further down Long Street in Tetbury to the flower shop and turned around.  The general opinion though, was that the joke has now worn thin, especially since other dogs have taken to using it as an example.

See what I mean?