JYC 31 and 1st Jan

These entries are definately getting plainer as I rush on with them! I hope I don't look back in years to come and think I sold out! New Year's Eve is where we are now and this year, for a change, we went out! My friend Alison invited us over. She has a daughter the same age as Jasper and Eliza and a cutey pie son who is just 6 months old. We had a fabby time with lots of silly games and didn't get to bed til 2.30!

New Year's Day and those resolutions again! I re-visited last years and was quite chuffed to see I had achieved several of them! I set some realistic ones for this year too....I hope!

2nd January was meant to be about the innocence of Christmas but I had nothing to say about that. Instead I chose to reflect on our 2011 which has been difficult at times. A plain page as I wanted it to be calm and peaceful bearing in mind the content of my entry.

So nearly there, last push to the end now!

Day 29 and 30

Day 29 was a chance to document that tale of this Christmas that hasn't yet been told! I think I mentioned that Katy is doing GCSE Photography this year so on the day we did the tree she set up the camera in the corner of the room to get some shots for a multiplicity picture. This, she informs me, is where you edit a picture so you can get lots of things all in it together. So here we all are decorating our tree with two images of Jess, two of Jasper, my arm, Eliza and Ken putting the star on top! Love this image but unfortunately the printer is being a bit rubbish. Still, it's in and done!

Day 30 and a review of 2011 in brief. I trawled my photos of the year to find an event for each month.

Jan-we went to the Ballet in London; Feb-I flew to Edinburgh with Jess to visit a Uni there; March-Katy and her Explorere Scout team won the Overland Hike; April-Jess was 18; May-we went to Norfolk to see my brother in law and sister in law, a very sad picture because she sadly died just a few weeks later; June-Jasper and the Scouts took part in their Annual soap box derby; July-Jasper went on Scout camp for a whole week.....he was shattered when he came home!; Aug-I had my first ever quilting class; Sept- Jess went off to Uni; Oct-we went to THe Big Gig with the Guides; Nov-I found a HUGE clutch of 24 eggs in my garden! and Dec-Katy was 16. Wow what a year we have had, some huge changes and our fair share of tears this year too.

JYC Days 27 and 28

Day 27 was all about how we sleep differently over the festive period. I always think this is an odd one but when I look through my pictures there is nearly always a sleepy one in there somewhere! I really LOVE this Santa paper but this is the only piece of it I have used! It didn't seem to go with any previous pictures!

Day 28 was about those special things we only ever have at Christmas; those real treats. This year I chose Christmas cake and a small sherry, very christmassy and two things we don't have at any other time of year.

Day 25 and 26

Just a quick photo montage for Christmas Day to show what we got up to! Didn't feel it needed any words!

Boxing Day was all about the mints.....that may not have contained mint! And in fact they didn't!

JYC Days 23 & 24

Really cooking on gas now! I manages to get chunks of pages done before I went back to work and got madly busy again. So Day 23 was meant to be about stockings, their place in your home and their history. However I have covered stockings in previous books and as the candy cane was meant to be my "theme" this Christmas I decided to write about it's origins instead. This was following a conversation with my Dad on New Year's Day who was convinced they were American in origin!

Day 24 was Christmas Eve of course and for once I was all done by 8pm or so. Jess made the mince pies, I iced the cake (which I forgot to take any pics of) and we all wrapped in different rooms of the house! Then we just had to wait for everyone to go to bed!

JYC Day 21 and 22

Day 21 was a chance think about what we have achieved so far. It was also the day that I went to buy the last few bits (apart from the food) that we needed so I chose to include the receipts. Maybe I will look back in a few years and think how cheap things were!

Day 22 was the day for another list. This time one to make sure those last jobs don't get missed. I think this year is my shortest ever "to do" list!

Days 19 and 20

Day 19 and it was all about writing letters to Santa. This is not a tradition we have really ever followed so it was another quick page to do!

Day 2o was meant to be about unexpected things arriving in the post (I think it was anyway!). Well again I decided to do my own thing and journal my Christmas meal with Burnice and Linda in the cabin! Oooo we ate sooooo much!