Day 17 and 18

I can't quite remember what the prompt was for 17th but I decided to go "off piste" and just add some pics of us going to collect Jess from Bournemouth. We made a day of it, taking everyone down with us. We had a nice meal at Prezzo and then a wander throught the German Market before bringin her back to Sussex for Christmas! A lovely day and it's nice to have her home again.

Day 18 was a chance to talk about your Christmas Menu. We have the same every year so no change here! I do ask if the children would like something different to turkey but they always say no! Their main reason for wanting turkey; so we can have a really yummy Jamie Oliver recipe with the leftovers!

JYC Days 15 and 16

Look what difference a nights sleep makes! Pictures right way round!! Day 15 is always one I find a bit tricky to do as we rarely have visitors so I end up writing pretty much the same each year!

Day 17 is a moment to think about what we are grateful for in this busy season. Quite pleased how this page turned out because in the past this entry has looked a bit "listy".

So bit more caught up. Might manage some more today!

JYC Days 13 and 14

Grrr, now why oh why have these pics gone sideways?? They are saved straight in my PC and I took them straight? Anyway you will just have to turn your head sideways to look I'm afraid! Day 13 was about Music in the run up to Christmas. I saved tickets and programmes from the various concerts the children have done in the run up.

Day 14 was about "the Rules of present distribution!" I decided to make a stack of parcels to represent this and had great fun making them and using up some card toppers too!

Right, now I need to find out why my pictures are sideways....

JYC Days 11 and 12

Day 11 was time to think about the tree; how it is decorated, and special decorations, lights, tinsel and so on. This year Katy is doing photography GCSE so she has taken lots of photos and I used two of hers on this page. Our tree this year was meant to be red and white with a touch of silver to go in with a whole candy cane theme but when I unpacked all the decorations we had barely any red or white ones! We went with glass, and anything with red on it in the end and the compulsory lametta, red this year for a change, and I included a piece or two as an embellie.

Day 12 was about Christmas's past and as part of the book I just did for my Dad I had this picture of us at Christmas. I did struggle a bit to work out the exact date but we moved to our new house in November 1977 and the first Christmas we didn't have a piano and I think the whole of the lounge carpet was up as we had a leak somewhere. That makes me think this is probably '78 or'79 and I would have been 10 or 11 and Sarah would have been 7 or 8. Also the tree is stood where our TV was and we didn't have a TV that first year either!

JYC 9&10

I hope you all had a lovely Christmas Day! In the mad dash to the day I did manage to squeeze in an evening of craft and used it to start catching up with this years Journal. Never before have I been so behind! Still, I have taken lots of photos so I am sure I will get there eventually.
Day 9 and we were considering Traditions. I guess when you think about it we all have lots of this that build up over the years into our own version of Christmas, coming in from both sides of the family. A quick page so I just listed a few of ours.

Day 10 was about wrapping. Always last minute in this house, although this year we were done by 8pm on Christmas Eve! Never has it been done so early!

Now I just need another quiet evening to catch up some more!

Friendship quilts

Ages ago, way back in about September, Burn, Linda and I decided to make friendship quilts. So we each bought 2 fat quarters and gave them to each other to be made into a 12" square for each other. These were then going to be our Christmas gifts to be made into a quilt each in the New Year. Are you with me still? I decided to use my Hobo Quilts book to make three squares, one for each of us, using panels that were relevant to each of us. First I did mine. The panels mean (from top left, going clockwise) cops active, man with a gun, OK and kind hearted lady. If you know me then you will recognise the significance of these ones!

Linda gave me a fat quarter with houses on and this is her panel. She loves her garden, has a big dog and lives near the sea so her squares mean (again top left going clockwise) well-guarded house, good water, housewife feeds for chores and work available.

Burnice gave me a fat quarter that was black, grey and white spots. It is her cabin we go to once a month and she nearly always supplies us with cake or biscuits so her squares mean (same order) woman, bread, here is the place and anything goes.
I will show you the two I got from them when I get some decent light to photograph them and then next year we will join them into 3 quilts!

An unusual card...

I always try to make a Christmas card for my class teacher from the children each year. I have done a few different ones over the years but this year I was a bit stumped. However we have just done a Nativity called "Christmas with the Aliens" so I asked every child to paint an alien. Then they added details in pen before writing a Christmas message on the back.

We had some great ones....

I then made them a space ship and mounted them in it so the teacher could take them out and read them! The words are lines that the aliens say in the play! The children LOVED making their aliens and I think she loved it too. Not very Christmassy but a good reminder of what we did this year!

Still going...just

Day 8 is a chance to show what Christmas preparations are happening around us. I hadn't taken very many pictures but as I work in school there are always little bits about. I haven't had a chance to take pictures of lights or shop windows as all my shopping has been online! I added some frosty pics too, think that might be the closest we get to a white one this year.

Next Day.

Was a bit fed up when I did this page. Well not really but I still have sooooooo much to do and I have been poorly and the weather is rubbish blah, blah, blah! Today's prompt was about lists; lists of what you still have to do and I found that just too depressing. So instead I typed a conversation with myself about where I am with Christmas today, (well on 7th). I am refusing to panic...

JYC Day 6

Hooray, we seem to be cooking on gas now and I can show you Day 6. This was a chance to talk about a tale of two Christmases; or a good versus a bad Christmas. I chose to talk about my choice to "theme" my Christmas this year instead. I am quite pleased with the long photo I used on the LH side. And it's meant to be blurry...it's an effect!!!

More JYC

Well I can't get the earlier pictures to load straight so lets go with Day 5. Advent calendars is the theme so the first photos in my album are of the ones we are using this year. No Jess this year so only three at home. We did post her one to open in Bournemouth though!

Journal Your Christmas.....at last!

Grrrr I am having technical glitches with my PC/Blog/Picasa at the moment!

Finally I have started to Journal this year's Christmas. The first 2 days WILL not rotate round the correct way so we I will have to start you off with Day 3 and thoughts about cards. For the BG I used the envelopes of the cards we have received so far. I also included this year's Christmas stamps. So at last I am under way, many days behind but off the starting blocks!

A Book for Dad

In August my Dad was 70. So what did he want for his birthday? Well, he is having a house built in America at the moment so "nothing" was his reply. I couldn't let such a date go by unmarked so I decided to make him a book with pictures of him growing up. Now this was a tad complicated because he divorced my Mum when I was 16 and I have no photos of his "new" wife although things are very amicable. My Auntie Sue was great; since my Nana died she has all the family photos so she scanned an e-mailed me several. Then my Mum dug out a load and I was able to make him a very plain book, containing some pictures that I hope he will be able to cherish.My Dad with his Mum and Dad and then a war time picture that Nana probably sent to Grandad. He was one of the original Desert Rats fighting in North Africa in the War. My Dad went to University in Cambridge and this is him in the infamous "Bumps" races, then on his wedding day to my Mum.And here are my Mum and Dad with me.I was adopted in 1968 and this is the first ever pic of me with them, followed by a pic with Dad on my first Christmas.

These are pics of me and Dad in our garden at Willow Park. I guess I am about 10 months or so...

I gave it to him today; he didn't say a lot but I hope he liked it.