DD: 24-31!

Today, January 1, 2013 my 2012 December Daily is complete.*  There are entries for all 31 days and quite a few bonus entries too.  I am overjoyed, surprised, and so excited.**

Day 23 (at left) I've shared previously.  Christmas Eve is on the right.

This picture we took just after Mass.  It was so reminiscent of my growing up life.  We didn't have time to take the picture before Mass because right up until the last minute Brent was vacuuming the floor (just like my Dad for so many years).  Yes, it needed to be done and was quite a mess, but still...  Mass was also quite chaotic.  We went to the 4pm mass rather than our normal 6pm choice and it was bursting with people.  We tried to keep our germs to ourselves, but somehow had a whole little row to our coughing selves by the end. I so missed being able to sing the most though as  I almost had no voice at all. 

The next photo is Cookie decorating after church.  Yes, believe it or not we made cut out sugar cookies despite all my protests against doing them. We did not decorate all of them, but did do a few for Santa and a few for us.  Brent has requested buttercream frosting rather than icing next year and I suggested he not press his luck.  The final photo is the tree with all the presents at last as Brent and I headed to bed. 

Next up, the 25th and 26th!

This is fun. There is only really one story, but five pictures, so the reader just keeps opening these fun picture flaps. 

The main themes being presents, light, E at his piano, and a white christmas (barely).  The journaling details a bit of the day and favorite gifts, etc...

The 26th I went back to work and Brent stayed home with the kids.  Happily my work is literally down the hall so I had time to make this craft from Santa with M before I "went".  I then worked with everyone else home which I adore and tends to make me a much more focused employee for some reason?  In any case, it was a very relaxed day and having some time not being mom probably helped me get well a bit and do better with the days to come. 

Day 27 was pretty much like this.  E and I had zero energy and mostly laid on the floor. I talked to Tracie and Sarah and we ultimately decided to go ahead with the tea.  Brent & I worked, E went to the babysitter some, and the big kids played around the house before going with me to the Doctor.  This is the day that DD sort of fell of the rails. I  went back to my bad old habit of a play by play of the day rather than just picking and telling one story.  The same is true for Day 28 -- which was much like Day 26 & 27 - Brent and I both worked from home and I did lots of Christmas Tea prep.  M took a BIG nap, but really much the same. 

Days 29 and 30. 

The Christmas Tea was a huge sucesss.  We had approximately 18 people in attendance including our family.  We ate the traditional tea foods including "magic" meringue mushrooms and Christmas Tea punch, introduced many new guests to our story, did an ornament exchange (which is awesome with 18 people), made two crafts, including individual glitter embossed ornaments with each child's hand print, and generally had lots of fun playing and talking together.

(Highlight of the day - after the Tea M told me I was "the bestest, bestest, bestest, bestest Mom ever!" SO, I think she liked it :))

Day 30 - This was B's turn to play.  He had a six hour long playdate with his friend P.  The boys mostly played video games, talked constantly, and occasionally had snacks or played with other toys.  Just as B sometimes felt a little out of place at the tea, M was a little tired of the boy stuff after awhile so she put on "girls only" dance performances for me in my room.  

Day 31 - My dear friend Mary and her lovely baby boy came to visit us.  This was super fun as not only did Mary and I get to catch up, but E sort of got to have a play date of his own.  All the kids had fun with the play table and Mary and I caught up on life and motherhood over our traditional Panera breakfast treats.  I so love Mary's visits and think our kids do too. 

Then, when I thought I was done there was this blank chipboard page before the bonus stories.... So, of course I needed to decorate that with some Glitter Tape and stamps as well as a little tag about the ending of the year. 

The flip side looks like this.  More glitter tape and doilies.  Earlier in the week I made this transition page that I really love. It talks about the next section and why I took the stories further beyond the "daily".  Simple, pretty and maybe a hint of magic.c 

That left the backside of the intro page which was the perfect place for our first "early" Christmas activity of making Christmas boxes with our friends in Tulsa.  It is also another place to talk about teaching our children about service being fun and important too. (Yes, I might have gone overboard with glitter tape somewhere around here). 

So these are now the first two pages of the "bonus" stories. 

Still with me? I added one more bonus story at the end about Christmas Crafts from School.  The first picture is M with a few of her crafts and the next page is B with some of his.  The bottom layer is an ornament M made at school. I really like the movable pieces in this other wise page protector driven album, as I suspect you've noticed. 

And that, my friends, is that.  I "may" write some closing thoughts on the back of this page as it is empty and has these nice lines, but for now, I'm letting it rest.  For the first time, it was a joy and I feel like all the stories are there, pretty, and just what I wanted without going crazy or taking up too much time.  I'm so very happy I did this again and that I've found a method that works for me. My kids are already enjoying flipping through it, which is an added happy bonus!

*Ok, fine.  I still haven't printed the two photos from Heather, but seriously, they will just slip in the appointed sleeves.

** For reference, I finished the 2011 December Daily in November 2012 so this is a HUGE deal for me.