Sleepless night for Santa's helper

Sometime during the late 80's, I had to work until almost midnight on Christmas Eve. After getting off work, I gathered up my fur babies for the hour plus drive to my parents' house.  Since my sister was spending the night there, along with her family, it was decided, not by me, that I would be the one to play Santa's helper when I got home.

Of course, being the aunt, I had to go above and beyond. Not only did all the gifts get wrapped, per sister's instructions, but both nieces received a handmade Christmas card from Santa!

I swear, I had just fallen into bed when the girls started jumping on my bed yelling for me to get up and see what Santa brought! That was a L-O-N-G day, with the consumption of many cups of coffee but the sparkle in those girls' eyes was worth it.

What is an advent calendar?

I have a confession to make, before two years ago I had never heard of an advent calendar.  The first one that caught my attention was on Ellen Hutson's Classroom blog. There was a post showing this beautiful creation by Sharon Harnist. Advent Calendar I really loved it but had no small children in the house. If I had just heard about it when my boy was younger....sigh So I passed that year but kept it in the back of my mind.

Fast forward to the next year. You've heard me talk about Journal Your Christmas before, well last year was my first attempt. One of the topics was...can you guess?...advent calendars! Thanks to Shimelle I realized I hadn't done my son a disservice by leaving these creations out of his Christmas memories. The paper chains we made to count down to when Santa came were a type of advent calendar. Ahhh, relief.

Finally this year I talked myself into at least buying the supplies to make one of my own. Like most of my craft projects I waited till the last minute to order the supplies so there is almost no way it will even be done before Christmas, but that's alright. I'll have plenty of time to create it and figure out how it works before the grandchildren arrive. Maybe by then it will be perfect and they can make wonderful Christmas memories with it.

What could be the perfect Christmas?

As I sit here thinking about what would be the perfect Christmas I realize I already have much of it. Both hubby and I are still in good health. Da Boy is home. We have a roof over our heads, enough to eat, jobs and many luxuries like internet, cell phones and cable TV.

Now my fantasy Christmas would be much more. Outside the yard would be landscaped with lights and a large nativity scene. There would be full feeders for the birds, squirrels, rabbits and deer to thank them for all the enjoyment they give us. White icicle lights hang off the edge of the roof and on top it looks like Santa has gotten stuck in the chimney again since all you can see are his legs sticking out.

The house would be cleaned top to bottom. Something yummy would be in the oven waiting for company to come over. The tree sparkles with multicolored lights tempting Oliver the cat to climb it.

My mom arrives with my sister and her crew about the same time as hubby's family starts driving up. We are all laughing trying to figure out where all these cars are going to be parked.

The kids head outside to chase each other around the yard while the grownups watch. My arms almost ache because there is always another baby to hold and spoil. Of course my momma isn't much better setting over there in her rocking chair. She always did have a way with children.

Friends pop in to visit for a bit as they make their Christmas rounds. I look at the children's eyes sparkle as they tell me what Santa left for them.

As I watch all the people in my life laugh and interact I'm struck again at how blessed I am. Dinner is wonderful after the many helping hands with the cooking, serving and cleaning up. Hours later all the guest start departing and everyone is smiling while saying they had a really good time.

My Love/Hate relationship with Christmas cards

I have a love/hate relationship with Christmas cards. While I LOVE to receive them I have a hard time sending them out for several reasons.

Do you have a hard time thinking of something to say? I do. In my mind I see myself writing something great that the recipient will enjoy reading. In reality, what I do write seems...well... blah. Especially with families that our only correspondence is via Christmas cards. What am I going to say to them? We haven't been involved in each other's lives all year so it's one of those, "what do you talk about" times. A lot of my relatives fall under this category.

For years, I dutifully sent out Christmas cards to everyone in my address book. Sometimes I would get one back but most times not. It really made me feel like I was bothering them and wasting both time and money by sending a card. Hmmm, maybe they didn't/don't appreciate handmade cards or thought I was being cheap by making them. If it was the later, they sure haven't priced craft supplies in a long, LONG time.

My dear hubby has burned me more than once on Christmas cards. He knows this. I won't let him forget it! First was while we were engaged. I made very time consuming cards that year. Each one took almost an hour to craft. He asked if I would make some for his family. "Sure", naive me says, "how many do you need?" Oh about twenty. TWENTY!!! Ouch!! But I made them. Found them laying on the counter in his apartment after Christmas. He hadn't even made the effort to address them.

Second time he got involved in making Christmas cards was when I was putting in a Stampin' Up order for card supplies. I was on a budget, had the stamp and supplies all picked out, but silly me asked him his thoughts. Well he fell in love with a stamp I just DID NOT LIKE and there went my budget. He and the Boy made the cards that year. I wasn't touching them and still can not get that stamp set to sell. 

The last time my honey bunch interfered was last year. I started gathering my supplies and he got the wild idea that he wanted to use some of the Boy's art for the front. The project went from simple to complex really fast and I'm hoping I'll be able to finish those for this year, maybe. They are really pretty. The Boy does good work.

After those last stories, I just wanted to put something out there for the record. My dear hubby is the most loving wonderful man a woman could have for her spouse! He just need so keep his little self out of my crafting projects UNLESS he will be the one majorly assisting in the crafting.

So what is that white stuff called snow?

After living in Florida for eight years, I've almost forgotten what it was like to have a white Christmas. Note the word almost. Snow, while beautiful to look at, means one thing to me, COLD. I don't 'weather' cold very well. Even thinking about it right now, sitting in a nice warm house with the temperature outside at almost 70 degrees, makes my bones ache.

My small family, on the other hand, is the opposite. Every time the Christmas season rolls around one of them mentions how much he would like to see snow again. I've told both of them more than once, they are welcome to go visit the family up in Iowa for Christmas, pointing out that there should be plenty of snow to enjoy during their vacation. I'll just stay here and take care of the pets. Still haven't had them take me up on the offer. They claim it's something about not being apart for Christmas.

With all that said, I do have a confession to make. I may not like snow in real life but I do have a fascination with snowflakes in my crafting. I haven't met a snowflake punch I haven't liked, nor paper,  nor pretty much any other snow themed product you can think of. Even though I try to restrain myself, I have loads of snow themed craft supplies. It's almost a sickness. Hmmm, maybe I DO miss the snow, just like my menfolk.

Daily December or Journal You Christmas or BOTH!

This is my second year in Shimelle's Journal Your Christmas class.  Last year I only lasted half the month before time got away from me and I started falling behind. This year I'm trying to combine it with the December Daily and see how far it goes.

I'm already ahead of last year. Supplies are gathered, mini album is completed, foundation pages cut and in the album, just ready for photos and/or journaling. This is also my first time trying to blog. So much fun and learning to be had here.

Already I feel behind...I know the picture I want for today's entry but wouldn't you know the sun was down by the time I got home so that's going to have to wait, sigh. Hope the rest of month goes smoother than today. At least I'll have most of my journaling here.

Filling in the blanks was our first exercise in JYC. So here we go...

This Christmas...

I will believe in magic.

I will be grateful for the little things.

I will always remember that I am loved.

No pictures today fangirls an boys...maybe later on in the week.