Thanksgiving with Friends

We had such a wonderful Thanksgiving with our friends this year. We went to my BFF's house. She had about 25 people over. It was an eclectic group. Her husband's family, her family, her friends and their families. Everyone had SUCH a good time!! The kids played video and TV games. The adults talked and laughed - a LOT. We all ate a LOT, too. The food was amazing -- I still don't think I've quite recovered from that meal. lol Here's a glimpse:

This night with friends made me feel so truly grateful for the extended family I have through my BFF and scrapbooking.

Check one off the Bucket List

I don't really have a "bucket list." I think it's depressing to tick off things you want to do or accomplish before you die. Eeew. Anyway, I did do something today, though, that I have never done before and that I never, EVER want to do again. I went to a store before they opened -- on BLACK FRIDAY. I never say "never," but never EVER again will I do THAT. The line was horrible. Many (but not all) of the people were mean. The lines at the registers were long. It is stupid, stupid, STUPID! So not worth it. I was curious. Now, I'm not. The good news is, though, that all of my Christmas shopping is finished. Yay me! I'm going to wrap everything when the girls are in school on Monday and then I'll REALLY be finished and I can enjoy the rest of the holiday season.

I made a new LO yesterday that just cracks me UP! I've had this picture since last spring but I was unable to scrap it until I came up with a title, which came to me in an instant yesterday. Once I had that, the whole thing came together in about an hour.

My next project will be a layout about the 2004 Tsunami in the Indian Ocean. The anniversary of that tragedy is the day after Christmas, so its been on my mind. I knew someone who was killed by the tsunami in Sri Lanka. I worked with her. The layout will actually be a combination historical and tribute page.

Right now, Tim is out buying a gigantic flat screen TV. I'm actually kind of excited about it. We are going to put it over the fireplace in the living room. It will be so nice to get rid of the old one that's been sitting on my cedar chest for WAY too long. When he gets home, we will go get our Christmas tree. Yay!! I'm going to give it several hours to warm up and for the branches to drop a little and then we'll get it decorated. Tonight is our Thanksgiving dinner at my BFF's house. I want to come home to a warmly lit tree and just relax.

My Favorite Weekend

This weekend is my favorite weekend of the year. I totally love the Thanksgiving meal, putting up the tree, and decorating the house. I think, this year, I'm going to do something I have never, ever done before. I am planning to be a participant in the ritual known as Black Friday. This may be a very misguided decision, but I'm determined to experience it once in my life. Rather than "misguided," I'll just think of it as checking something off my bucket list. Yep. That sounds better.

I joined a group that is making something called the December Daily journal. The basic idea is that we premake a book and then each day put [a] photo(s) and journaling in it. Theoretically, it should be easy because most of the work is already done. It's intended purpose is to document the days in December until Christmas day. Below are a few pictures of the book I put together. I *totally* love it!















There are so many great colors and textures in this book. I used flocking, glitter, gel pens, and stickles. I also decorated it with bling, those cute little puff balls, chalk, ribbon, transparencies, etc. The pages are both acrylic and blackboard (chipboard). There's a whole lotta eye candy going on in this book. Now I am so impatient to begin filling it up!

The book took pretty much the entire weekend to complete. Since then, I've scrapped two pages and made a couple of ornaments. I haven't had a chance to photograph them yet, but they are made out of acrylic and turned out really cute, I think.

Today, I think Miss J and I are going to scrap with my BFF. At least that's the plan.

The Holidays This Year

One of the reasons it's been so long since I last posted is because I am actually enjoying the holidays for the first time in what seems like forever. I have missed the kind of excitement I feel again this year. There are two things I might be able to attribute it to -- this being my 5-year post cancer anniversary and the fact that I am not stressed out at work. Whatever the reason, I am NOT taking it for granted for a single second.

I have my holiday shopping well underway. How much I actually have done would depend on your view point. If we're talking $$$, I'd have to say I'm 3/4 of the way done. If we're talking number of things to buy, I'd say about about 1/2 way there. Either way, not too bad.

This weekend I am going to finish my holiday cleaning so that next week we can decorate and get our tree up. I have made a few layouts this year of things from Christmas past. I'm not really fluent at scrapping events, so I'm always so proud when I pull it off and actually like the result. I'm scrapping tomorrow and I've prepared for so many projects / pages that I don't even know where to begin! One of the things I want to scrap is this very cool picture my nephew, Tom, sent us. He and his friend (shall we say) got onto the Universal Studios lot. They were on the back lot and ran across the old house from Leave It To Beaver (circa 1957 - 1963). So sad to see it in this disrepair, but isn't it COOL that he got to get his picture taken standing on the porch??

And the original:

I'm going to scrap these, frame the LO, and send it to my nephew for Christmas. I think he might get a kick out of that.

My BFF came up with a great idea last weekend and I can't wait to get started! This year, I'm going to put up our generic (albiet BEAUTIFUL) tree again. I was going to put up our traditional tree (with all the family ornaments), but I want to do this project, instead. Each and every ornament I own has a story behind it. I can tell someone where it came from and the meaning behind it. I know that if anything were to happen to me, all those stories and the meaning behind those treasures would be lost forever. So, I am going to tag every ornament with the associated origin and/or story. I have a box of jewelry tags I am going to put on them. Then, in the years going forward, we can have the new tradition of reading about the history of the ornaments as they go on the tree. People who come to visit can look at them, if they wish. And, hopefully, reading those tags will become a tradition for the girls' families some day, as well. I hope so. It's going to be a BIG job, but I'm really looking forward to it. Then, after the holidays, I think I am going to tackle their memory chests.

This week I won a contest on the Creating Keepsakes ( http://www.creatingkeepsakes.com/index.php?option=com_groupjive&task=showgroup&groupid=741 ) web site. Amanda Probst is the Author of a great new book called "Month by Month Scrapbooking." She gave us a challenge each day last week that was in-line with how her book is set-up. I did three of the challenges and WON! One of the challenges was to scrap about stewardship (volunteering). Another was to scrap a LO with 11 photos on it. I combined these two challenges on the 2-page spread, below. The title is "Give Time." They are sending a box with all kinds of goodies in it, including a copy of Amanda's book. I can't WAIT! Looks like Christmas will be coming a little bit early for me this year.

I guess that catches me up pretty well. I'll be gone all day tomorrow, but back on Saturday -- I promise! (Yeah, right.)

November already? Nah... how can that be??

It seems impossible, but here we are... post Halloween and post election. Heck, I did most of my Christmas shopping for the girls yesterday! I even picked up a couple of things for the house to start getting it looking nice. I haven't been much in the mood for the holidays the last couple of years. This year, I'm a lot more relaxed and a lot happier. Maybe that's what accounts for the improved holiday spirit.