Christmas Journal

Here are the last few Christmas journal pages except for the actual Christmas day page.
One of the following journal pages is still missing a photo - it's on someone else's camera and I keep forgetting to get it!

I jumped into this project at the beginning for two reasons:
 1. because I wanted to remember my Christmas this year since last year's disappeared in a fog of pain and illness
 2. I was inspired by the Simple Stories '25 days of Christmas' line of paper.

Coming to the end of the project, I can joyfully say that...
 1. I have already enjoyed sharing my journal with many people and it makes me happy just to look back at it already, even just one short month past Christmas
 2. I still love the Simple Stories paper and I am thrilled at how it turned out in my journal!

Conclusion...I am SO doing this project again next year!!!

p.s. stay tuned in the next week or so for a couple of layouts with more pictures from Christmas!

Wrapping up Christmas

I thought I'd spend a few days showing you the rest of my Christmas journal. I've finished almost all of it - just one or two photos I need to print and the cover to make. Maybe I'll be finished by the time I get through my wrap-up posts. I really enjoyed this project! If you'd like to see more, you can find other posts here.

Christmas Journal Pages

Here are some more pages from my Christmas journal...

 My wrapping paper page...

Christmas Journal Pages

Yikes! We've been busy!!   (well, who hasn't?)

I've barely opened the computer in the past week or so, but I have managed to keep up with a few of my Christmas journal pages. Here they are:

More in a bit...no need to overwhelm you right now! I hope you're having a lovely holiday season!

A Christmas Journal

I've decided to join in with Shimelle Laine's Journal Your Christmas class this year. Why might I be doing this, you ask?

Well, here's what I'm putting in my journal:

Why do I want to write a journal at the busiest time of year? What am I thinking?

Well, last year’s holiday season is pretty much a complete blur to me. Little Brother got sick on December 1 and had virus after virus for two months straight. I had foot surgery on December 15 and the recovery was long and very painful. I was not well-informed about the true ramifications of the procedure and was therefore under-prepared mentally, emotionally, and in every other way for the difficulty it brought into our lives. I have only vague memories of last December and January – they were obliterated in a fog of pain and illness.

So, more than anything, I want to ‘make up’ this year in joy and appreciation what I lost last year in stress. I want to experience every moment. I want to look around me and enjoy the atmosphere; I want to decorate, bake, revel in my kids, and shop for gifts. I want to have a Christmas season!

And when it’s all over…I want to remember it!! 

Here's my first page put together. It includes the above text and Shimelle's opening flashcard. I chose a 5x7 size journal for quick & easy with emphasis on writing:

See you on the other side!

Journal Pages

Since I decided to take the plunge into Journal Your Christmas and I'm still drawing inspiration from all the great posts during last week's Christmas Crafting Weekend, I used my little bit of crafting time yesterday to pre-make a couple journal pages. Visit this post to see Shimelle's fabulous pocket pages or this one to view a really beautiful card by Leah Farquharson.

I know that I am going to have to keep telling myself that simple is the key for this project. One of my main reasons for hesitating before taking on this project was knowing that I can get carried away and/or a wee bit perfectionist with my projects. Here is my pocket page...

 I like the idea of making some of the pages in advance but not the entire journal. I think that crafting as I go will be part of the experience but having some pre-made pages will get me in the inspiration groove so that the engine is warm and the gears are already turning.
Here is a page created with a central circle element like in Leah's card...

If I have time next weekend in between getting out the Christmas decorations and baking cookies, I may just make a few more pages! Fun, fun! Then I'll be ready to roll for my December adventure...

I'm Jumpin' In

I have been considering Shimelle's Journal Your Christmas class pretty much since I started reading her blog last spring. For a long while, it just sounded like too much work to me. The idea of adding regular almost daily crafting to the holiday season? Intimidating!
 But, I do really, really love the Christmas season... for the family time, the beautiful things, the winding down of the year, yes, even the bustle of parties and shopping. And the bottom line is that I would love for my family to know why - even many, many years down the road. Having a tangible record of our holiday traditions and my seasonal musings would be a treasure for the future. "Mom, remember the year when...?" Yep, let's go back and read about it!
 So, I'm diving in. One of her first challenges last week during her Christmas crafting weekend was to choose a journal size and cut some background pages. I chose Close To My Heart's journal because it has a protected cover and because it is only 5x7. I want to keep it small so that I forcibly limit my time commitment as well as keep my focus mostly on actually journaling!

Now that I've actually made the decision to do it, I'm really excited!!