DD: Bonus Stories

Somewhere out there one or two people may be wondering where my December Daily posts have gone (Hi Chrissie & Audra!)  The excellent news is that I am up to date and have  been telling lots of bonus stories too.  You haven't seen all of it yet as there hasn't been time for blogging in our house full of sick people.  Also, I ran out of these divided page protectors so the next few posts while "complete" may often lack the picures actually being in their little slots.  We're all cool with that, right?

As mentioned, I have divided my book into "daily" entries and another half with general stories.  Sometimes these are inspired by Journal Your Christmas with Shimelle, or these "favorite" cards from Ali, or maybe just overarching themes I'm seeing in our month.  The post at left is about all or our Ornament Crafting and collecting this year (at right is a page in progress about the kids' Christmas Crafts from School).  The journaling gives a little background and the source/owner/creator of each new ornament.  A few aren't included here, but it is a good sampling. 

1) Maggie's swirly candy ornament.  Her big new ornament was the large glittery candy cane known as "red wagon" but that already has its own page so I skipped it here; 2) A manger ornament M made at MDO;  3) A blue crayon for E, Darth Vader for B, and a Chinese lantern B made at school; 4) A button wreath M made;  5) the glittery nutcracker from our trip to the OKC ballet; 6) These are the jingle bell ornaments we made on Saturday-- we made necklaces too for all the kids at the smaller family Christmas and the Grandparents.  The kids saw Polar Express Sunday evening and loved them even more; 7) E's photo ornament; 8) Brent's video game controller ornament; 9) M's handprint from school (B made the same thing when he was in Ms. V's class so we have tow, as with the ornament wreath and candy cane in 12).  The little puppy bell ornament in this picture is new too from the Cookie Exchange party; 10) A spoon full of sugar - A souvenir from when I saw Mary Poppins in November; 11) Sort of glared out (ironically?), but a camera for me; 13) A candy cane ornament made by Ms. M.  She actually made several different candy canes that are on the tree, but this is the representative one for this entry. 

Next up, an entry about the various fun things that have happened at M's dance class this December.  It is another tabbed page, but this time it opens to the side.  The first two photos are from parent's night on the 13th. 

The remaining picture (at right) is from the last pre-Christmas class when they were encouraged to wear costumes.  At left, is a post about a fun Salt Ice Sculptures science experiment we did this week. (The details are avialable here). 

There are two more bonus stories.  At left, I write about the importance of friends in our December, both the kids' friends and our friends. At left, I write about E's first Christmas present, which was from one of his Godmothers, Chrissie, and originally lost in our sea of amazon boxes. 

 

E's picture flips up to reveal more of the journaling.  Lots more embossing with silver on the card and gold on the pattern paper.  E loves playing with this toy.  Mostly, mind you, he either holds the balls or chews on the hammer, but he also sometimes manages to bang the hammer on the xylophone, which is cool.  He can't yet hammer the balls through, but his siblings love it. 

 

The next two bonus stories are, at left, about our Advent Calenders, and, at right, a quote for the Sandy Hook remembrance. 

I usually include the Advent calendars as a post for one day during the month, but all the days were so full this time that it went in with the bonus stories as it did happen everyday.   There were, sort of, three Advent calendars.  B had a LEGO Star Wars Advent Calendar again this year.  He also glued a cotton ball on Santa's beard every day.  He brought Santa and the cotton balls home from school the last week of November and I thought it was a great project.  M's advent calendar included a necklace, bracelet and 22 charms to be distributed among them.  Here, Grandma is helping her attach one.  She has been weird about them as she likes to open the doors and carry both charms or the full necklace or bracelet around, but so far has declined to wear them, weirdness.

I suspect we'll have at least another bonus or too.  I like having both daily elements and a section for broader themes that aren't so tied to a day and with this very quick 4x6 photo and journaling card system I have time, energy, and interest for both!