I finished this book up a few days after Christmas and it's packed with seventy-two little pages. A few pages were shared already and here's a bunch more...
December Daily-ish 2017: 01
I started this year's little 4x4 book right before Christmas and still need to finish it up.
I was a little snarky on a couple of pages, but happy as can be to be crafting and can't wait to complete the last pages.
December Daily-ish 2016
This is my fifth December Daily project (2012//2013//2014//2015), but I've always called it December Daily-ish since I could never get each day of holiday memories recorded in the amazing ways that others do.
I started this book a couple of days into December, got a chance to work on it right before Christmas and finished it up this week.
In the past I would have two or three posts to share it over, but since I haven't taken a single photo of the book until now, here it aaallllllll is.
Well, almost all of it, the book has more pages all filled with photos...so these are the crafty pages.
December Daily-ish 2015: 03
I finished up my little book for the year last week with a bunch more pages. I scanned in coloring pages, hid some journaling, folded our three part Christmas to-do list into a page protector, tucked in the gift tags Sean and I always write clues on and included lots of photos of family.
December Daily-ish 2015: 02
This is the first batch of pages I've slowly worked on over the last couple of weeks. It's such a pain to try to photograph in the album, that I just took the pages out like I did last year.
December Daily-ish 2015: 01
This year I am using a 4x6 album which I started crafting a couple of weeks ago. I added a card to the inside cover to document when I started and whenever it's finished (since it's often been well into January).
December Daily-ish in January...
The plan worked...I spent some time working on it here and there in December and finished up in January, as I have in years past.
December Daily-ish 2014: 01
December does not leave much time for extra crafting, but it doesn't matter. I cannot resist some December Daily-ing...or as I have called it for the last two years, "daily-ish".
This year, I am keeping things super duper simple and making a little four inch album...I can print 4x4 photos from an app to pick up in an hour around the corner at Walgreens and start scrapping.
Can't wait for all the bits of holiday documenting...
December Daily-ish 2013: 03
I finished up our book this past week. It's simple, but filled with photos and memories. Sean's dad flew out from Iowa to stay with us for six days. He went from temperatures well below zero, to almost eighty degrees and with his feet in the ocean.
In addition to his train ride on my desk and the dogs holding him hostage in their kennel, Clarence the elf took selfies with Mac and I when we were asleep. We found them on our cell phones.
Can I tell a story please? Most of you know Mac is an identical twin, but his brother, Griffin, was stillborn. We live right down the street from my mom's house, the house I grew up in, which is on a street perpendicular to a cemetery. Griffin is buried there and, although we drive past it pretty much everyday, I am terrible about taking care of his grave. Except I always make sure we decorate it on Christmas. This year we weren't going to get there until Christmas Eve afternoon. When Sean went to get the decorations out of the garage, he realized that we had tossed them the summer before in a big clean out. We figured the decorations were old and falling apart, so we would get him new ones. And then we forgot.
I burst into tears for reaching an entirely new level of neglect. Sean was going to run out the door to buy anything he could find. And Mac offered the tree in his room. Before I let you think Mac is the kindest kid you've ever met (and granted he is pretty darn good) I should be honest and let you know that most grave Christmas decorating visits have included Mac complaining about why the heck we even have to do this. Regardless of his past annoyances with the tradition, Mac's offer made everything better. I decided to bring along a candle too. Not the safest thing, but living by the cemetery we knew people did it all the time and I liked the idea of the little light flickering, even if it didn't last long. So one of my Christmas wreath jar candles sat on his grave, along with Mac's tree.
That night we ended up with Santa Ana winds...it howls and shakes the house in the middle of the night as the gusts blow through. When I opened my eyes Christmas morning, I asked Sean if he would go gather Mac's tree. We guessed that it had blown away the night before and figured he'd be looking for wherever it ended up. Thankfully, it had just blown over, but not really taken off. And the candle? Sean told me when he got home that, despite the wind, the candle was still lit when he got there. I wish I had been there to see it myself.
That's the card we put in Mac's stocking...on the other side it said, "but we are getting you one for Christmas".
And that's my nephew at our family Christmas brunch making sure there weren't anymore gifts under the tree.
Since the first Christmas after were married, Sean and I have the tradition to open gifts from each other very last thing on Christmas night. And we write little hints and jokes on the gift tags, so I always save them.
And I enlarged the photo I took of the reflection of the three of us in an ornament on Mac's tree from Christmas Eve. Even though it occurred in a bit of a crisis mode, putting that tree up was definitely was my favorite holiday moment this year.
December Daily-ish 2013: 02
Here's the second batch of random bits of this month.
Christmas wrapping with scraps of wrapping paper filling the page protector and one of the tags I made to tie onto gifts. Then a Christmas shopping trip, a note Sean left me one night last week and other little details.
The low here was 35 degrees this past Saturday with a chance of rain, so I joked with Sean all week it was going to snow. I took a screen shot of the weather app on my phone showing the forecast and punched out a bunch of snowflakes. This is as close to a white Christmas as we'll probably ever get. Then our Christmas cards going off in the mail.
December Daily-ish 2013: 01
Last year I loved keeping track of little bits of the holidays. This year I have a blank album ready to be filled with more December Daily-ish (since there is no way I will get to it daily).
Then, over the holiday weekend, I sat down to flip through the old Christmas scrapbooks. There was our family Christmas card picture in 2002 and I wrote about that we chose the one we did because Mac threw his hand in the air like a cheerleader. That was the year he became completely enamoured with cheerleading. Somehow it's already eleven years later and he's the cheerleader he always wanted to be. Scrapbooking caught that little detail that's such a big part of our lives now.
That's why I really want to keep documenting...these little memories really can matter when you look back on them.
December Daily-ish: 04
There's the big mail day, a boat parade on dry land, a pocket to keep all of the 12 Days activity cards in, a sugar cookie recipe that's a new favorite and ice skating. Love that these holiday season details have been documented.
December Daily-ish: 03
I gathered old Christmas photos for a little project I'll share early next week, but a little collage made it into the book. Then I snapped a quick photo at the mall while doing a little more gift shopping. I thought I was almost done...and then Sean reminded me of four more people we needed to get something for.
December Not Quite Daily
So far, so fun. I won't document everyday, but I would love to keep track of all the little bits of celebration this month...even if that just means a quiet day at home.
I also wrote a little manifesto...I liked the idea of documenting what is important to me about the holidays.
You can see the beginnings of my album here.
And for this album (plus many other little crafty projects) I have amassed more 6x6 sized patterned paper than I could use in a lifetime...I just can't resist those cute, darn patterns. I want to share though, so I have packaged up three piles of paper in case you need some like I certainly did. Please feel free to leave a "pick me" and if you have your own December Daily album going too I'd love if you'd share a link to it. I'll do the random drawing on Wednesday evening.
I just had to...
There's going to be a little December documenting around here this year.
