December Daily 2011

There was a Christmas, not so many years ago, that Joe and I pretty much faked our way through.  We barely got a tree up in time and while we exchanged presents, I would say there wasn't much Christmas spirit going around.  We were at a definite low point in trying to get pregnant and Christmas just seemed like a holiday we wanted to skip.  I wish I could go back and talk to that "me" but it probably wouldn't do much good...I am a tad stubborn.

Last year was really the first year that we could celebrate with Taelin kind of knowing what was going on and I was determined to make the most of every moment.  I got a kit to decorate 25 envelopes to make an Advent event calendar of sorts.  In each envelope I listed an activity that we could do together.  We visited Santa, read Christmas stories, listened to Christmas music, donated food, make gingerbread houses...on and on.  My original goal was to take a picture each day to record what we did but it just didn't happen.  

I think it was Ali Edwards that first came up with the idea of December Daily.  The idea of building a scrapbook before December hits so that you can record the little wonders that happen in the month.  It is a way to help us not rush through the month without realizing all that they holiday season means to each of us.  I purposely put this on my list so that I was forced to do this...and I am so glad I did.  Time seems to be going so quickly lately and I am really hoping that being mindful of this all will help slow it down, at least a little.

So, I dug through the supplies I had and was able to finish (as much as I could) my December Daily 2011 album.  And...here it is!

It is a 6 x 12 chipboard album.  I used the Nordic Holiday line of paper from Basic Grey to cover the chipboard.  I inked and sanded all the edges and bound it together with a binder clip (which you can't really see because I covered it in ribbon).  I still need to get another ring for the binding.  

In this picture you can see that I have numbers cut out for the days and journaling blocks to record the stories.  I have more embellishments like ribbon and bling that I don't have pictured here (it would be really hard to get it all in one picture...and I am not sure I want to out myself about my bad habit of collecting scrapbooking supplies).  I have a fairly complete list on my Google calendar dedicated to activities for December.  Some of them are the same as last year and there are some new ones too. (I have another project up my sleeve for the reveal of each of those throughout December.)  Technically, all I need to do is carry my camera (or my phone) with me so I can capture this holiday season.

It may seem a little silly that I am putting so much into all of this right now when everything else is so crazy, but honestly it is helping me remember that all this craziness will pass. I can not wait!