Christmas Eve 2011

We had a pretty quiet Christmas Eve.
I  am not complaining!
Dan, Sandra and the kids showed up around 4:00, Carl came a little earlier and Don showed up after everyone was gone. (That's Don for ya!)
I got a few pictures taken before my batteries went dead. Thankfully I was able to use Sandra's new camera to take pictures but couldn't upload them to my computer for some strange reason. Hopefully, I'll have more to post when I get them from Sandra.

***Note to self. Self, don't forget to charge your batteries and don't forget your camera today!***

We go to mom and dad's today for Christmas dinner, so hopefully I won't have any camera mishaps!

Here is Dayla sporting her new outfit from grandma Deanna. (Please excuse one of the dog's behinds that also made it into the picture!) She  glammed it up with a Jack-O-Lantern tattoo on her hand! I really had to work hard to get this picture. She was hungry and wanted to make faces. :)

Carl got to snuggle with Corbin by the fire. I don't know who was enjoying it more! Corbin looked so cute with his mom's Santa hat, his adorable little slippers and huge blue eyes!

I took this picture of our tree with the flash, so the lights aren't very noticeable. I kept it simple this year and didn't do bulbs, just ornaments collected over the years. I also didn't put too many ornaments towards the bottom of the tree because of dogs, cats and kids.

This morning, I contemplated Christmas's past and tried to imagine Christmas's future. The season is so full of activity no matter how much I try to simplify. Stopping to contemplate is usually not an option! In the midst of the chaos, I tried to slow down and take time to actually enjoy the season. I took my time decorating, and actually didn't finish until yesterday. I bought a box of cards to finish off my Christmas card list. (However, I believe that I actually got about 2 dozen made!) I made a batch of Nutella fudge with Sea Salt to satisfy my need to try a new recipe. Very quick and easy. My plans for all the other cookies I was going to bake fell by the wayside and instead, we enjoyed some cookies we received  as gifts as well as store bought cookies. I spent a couple days in Seattle helping Miles in his shop. Although he thought I was helping him out, it was actually a huge blessing for me!*wink*
Life changes, kids grow, grand kids come and they grow! Unfortunately, I'm growing older too and I've had to change and adjust traditions and activities to better meet mine and the needs of other family members. Change is painful, but good. It keeps us open and flexible...right?!

Merry Christmas and Blessed New Year!!!

Daemyan 2009

Don and Daemyan 2011

Still working on my cards!

I hope to have them finished by this weekend so I can send them off on Monday. We'll see!
I have about a dozen made. Instead of using only scraps, which I had originally planned on, I am doing a combination of scraps and recycling.
I have a box full of cards from Christmases past that didn't quite make the cut and I am repurposing them. for example, a slightly crooked greeting might be cut out and adhered to a different card etc.
Anyway, it's been a lot of fun.

This card started out as a silver embossed tree. I didn't like the way the embossing had turned out so I never used the card. So. I got rid of the tree that was on the the silver, cut out an angel and adhered it to the silver scalloped oval, painted it in (a whole other story!), added a punched border to the left side and adhered it to what the other side of the paper looks like (striped) and than to a white base.

This card was also a smaller size with an ugly mustard oval in the middle with a sentiment. YUK! I used a pretty vintage tag in the middle instead and added some gold cord and adhered it to a pear green base.

I wish i had taken before and after pictures, which I am going to start doing. Well, back to work!