I don't know about you, but I am in a mad dash to get everything done! You'd think that being at home full time I would have been organized a long time ago, but it always seems to come down to the wire. We are hosting present opening and breakfast on Christmas morning for my Dad and Shane's mom, and then later on we'll have the family Christmas dinner for about 13. We are bringing mom over from her care facility, but I think we are all a bit apprehensive as to how she will react. It wouldn't be Christmas without her being here, so I am hoping she will enjoy it, eat something and not get too agitated. This will be stressful, but all we can do is hope for the best and prepare for the worst.
We started Christmas a little early this year - we had a family dinner at my cousin's house on Friday and Grayson got to open a present. Lucky! We also had a pre-Christmas Christmas dinner at Shane's mom place on Saturday night. It was supposed to be our chance to celebrate Christmas with Shane's brother Darcy who works on the oil rigs in northern Alberta. Because of his schedule he wasn't going to be home on Christmas day, but he ended up working 5 weeks straight and wasn't even able to get home for this weekend! Poor guy. I hope they feed him well on Christmas day! But, we did have a nice evening with my mother-in-law and Darcy's lovely girfriend Maja. Oh, and Grayson go to open ANOTHER present! Great evening. Here's Sammy with Grammy Peggy:
I mentioned in earlier posts that I was taking the Cut the Crazy out of Christmas class at BPS. I love my planner, and even though I am not quite finished getting ready at least I know where all the info is! I also like that it has made me think about the kind of traditions I want my family to enjoy now and remember later.
One tradition from when I was a little girl was counting down the days to Christmas. We have been doing this at home on the calendar, but next year I am making a WAY cuter version of an Advent calendar like Georgana Hall did
here. My plan is to order the supplies NOW and put a note on my calendar next October or early November to pull it out and get it done in time for December 1.
Another tradition for me was always getting new Christmas themed pajamas. Here are the boys in their new jammies, but they aren't looking too happy...I guess that's what you get when you try to take a pic of sleepy boys!
We are also plan on attending ZooLights after Christmas at the Calgary Zoo. This is a relatively new tradition which we started at Grayson's first Christmas. I think Sam will enjoy it as well. You can wander around and look at over 1 million lights set up in the shape of animals. Hot chocolate and firepits make is even more fun!
I will be looking forward to adding more traditions as the boys grow up.
There is not much scrapping happening right now...I did a page plan and a digital layout for
my weekly website posting, but haven't had time to do much more. If you haven't checked either of my websites lately, you may have missed the info on the "A Year of Memories Workshop". I am SO excited for this one - it is GENIUS! In this two hour workshop, you set up your yearly wall calendar using products from CM's 8x8 "Celebrate" Kit. When you get home, your Mini-Everyday display will be a handy place to note appointments and events for each month, as well as a place to keep photos, tickets or invitations close at hand because of the little magnets and clothespins that come with it. Here is a sample shot of January's calendar, which you can display on a table or hang on a wall.
Cute, right? But here is the genius part...at the end of each month, you change out your calendar page and slip the previous month's page into a 8x8 "Celebration" picfolio album. Then you add a few pics to the facing page using the rest of the products in the Celebration kit, and you have easily documented what happened that month and recorded your memories! Isn't that a great and simple idea? Here is what a January album page might look like:
Brilliant! This will be such an easy and do-able way to "keep up" with a year's worth of info, events and pohotos for your family! And what a treasure you will have at the end of the year - a calendar with notes as to all that you did and photos to boot!
If you are in the Calgary, Alberta area, check out the info for and make plans to attend my workshop scheduled for January 15, 2009. If you are anywhere else in Canada, you can still order the bundle of products from Creative Memories that has everything you need to set up your calendar (but doesn't include the album for slipping pages into later) by clicking here. If you are outside Canada, I would suggest visiting the CM home page and searching for a consultant in your area to order the bundle. Don't miss this - get organized now to capture a year's worth of memories! I am super excited by this!
OK...even though I am excited and want to go downstairs and start scrapping right now, I guess I better start checking off items on my to-do list!
Just in case I don't have a chance to post again before the big day, Merry Christmas! I hope it is full of joy, laughter and love.
Happy Scrapping,
Noreen
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