December 22nd

Today, I spotted a photo challenge on the For the Love of Art Blog. The challenge was to post a picture of each of the following things.

1. Your Christmas Tree. Let's see 'em!
2. YOU. Take a photo of yourself. You and only you. No family, no pets. Just you.
3. Your favorite thing right now (sky's the limit)
4. Your Scrapbooking Table/Desk RIGHT NOW!
5. Someone you love in a Santa hat.
6. Your favorite project you created within the last 3 months.
7. A favorite decoration or ornament.
8. Freebie--> any photo you want to share..make sure you tell us why!

So, here's what I came up with....

1. My tree:



2. I tried to take a picture of myself in the mirror, but it didn't turn out, so I asked Austin to take one of me. This one was my favourite:



3. My favourite thing right now: the fact that I got all of my presents wrapped this afternoon:



4. My scrap space right now. It's messy, but unfortunately not with scrappy stuff per say. I also use my space for sewing and have one more apron to make as a gift.



5. I'm skipping #5, because we don't have a santa hat.

6. My favourite project that I created within the last 3 months is, surprisingly enough, not scrappy. It's a quilt that I made for Sage for Christmas. I managed to keep it a surprise and cannot wait to see her open it on Saturday morning!



7. A favourite decoration or ornament: my Willowtree manger scene:



8. Freebie--> a photo I want to share: our family's Christmas card photo:



I wanted to share this photo to wish all of my bloggy friends a very merry Christmas!

December 21st

I had the day off of work and got 10 things accomplished today...

1. I had coffee with my friend, Susan, this morning.

2. I attended Austin's french immersion Christmas lunch at his school.

3. I attended Sage's assembly at her school this afternoon. They did a great job singing and performing poems. They sang a song about Jan Brett's The Mitten and some of the kids got to wear hats on their heads representing who they were in the story. Sage got to be the bear (& was quite excited about it!)



4. I showed up for my hair appointment at 4:15, only to be told that it was yesterday. :( They're seeing what they can do to reschedule me, but I'm not holding my breath that it will be before Christmas.

5. I wrapped up the kids' teacher gifts that I'd made.



I made each of the teachers a set of eight cards "from the desk of", with two different designs.





I used Bo Bunny and Crate Paper patterned paper, a Hero Arts Cling stamp, SU! stamps & ink and my Martha Stewart butterfly punch. (By the way, I love that Austin's teacher's name is Mrs. Smart-- what a perfect teacher name!)

6. I made my gift tags for my Christmas presents.





I decided to go a little fancier than in past years. I cut out circles from kraft cardstock and stamped them with my Hero Arts Cling stamp in white. After that dried, I added some SEI stamps in red ("to" & "from") and a punched scallop circle and snowflake. I used American Crafts for the blue and the red is some wrapping paper I picked up at Walmart.

7. I played three rounds of crazy eights with the kids tonight.

8. I read one storybook and two chapters of our advent story (we're caught up once again!)

9. I picked up thirty juice boxes for Jonah's class party tomorrow and dropped off my books at the library.

10. This one isn't complete yet, but since I have two hours before bed, I'm hopeful it will (provided I get off of the computer and get my rear in gear!): I got my Christmas gifts that I'm sewing done.
(ETA: Okay, it's 10:15, and since I have to work tomorrow morning, I'm going to bed. BUT, I just wanted to add that I did get one apron done, so I just have one more to finish. :) )

Thanks for looking!

December 20th

Tonight, Cameron & I dropped the kids off at tae kwon do and went to the church for a choir rehearsal for our Christmas Eve service. My good friend, Darlene, is conducting the choir.

December 19th

This evening, the kids had their Sunday School Christmas program. All three of them sang in the choir, with Austin singing a solo for one verse of "Go, Tell it on the Mountain." Then Austin had a speaking part in the reader's theatre and Sage got to play Mary.







A fabulous evening!

December 18th

This afternoon, we decorated Christmas cookies. Such a fun tradition!


December 17th





Tonight, we had our annual "Dyck/Heide/Penner" gathering with Larry, Val, Layton, Logan, Pam, Walter & Alex coming over for appetizers and games. A fun evening, as usual!

December 16th

My first day off in a while!
Cameron & I drove to Walhalla to pick up a couple of orders from Amazon.com. I ran some errands in Winkler while he visited his dad.
Val came over in the afternoon & I gave her her Christmas gifts. This Willowtree figurine
and an apron I made for her (using an ePattern from Above All Fabric and some fabric I bought when I was in Congo last February.)



Now we're off to Austin's grade 5 & 6 concert.
Thanks for looking!

December 15th

Gotta love how in the midst of a busy, mundane day, a trip to the post office to pick up a parcel from Trevor, Noah & Tat, as well as my prize from Studio Calico can just brighten it ever so much!

December 14th

Tonight was Jonah's grade 3 & 4 concert. Jonah got to play piano before the concert and did a great job! He also did a wonderful job singing with his class and the voluntary choir!

December 13th

Work during the day. Homework after school. Leftovers for supper. Practise piano. Tae kwon do. Made some goodies after putting the kids to bed.

December 12th

One of our advent traditions is reading from this book (or this one this one -- we alternate them each year) almost every night before bed. Tonight we had to catch up from Thursday-- not bad for us, actually!
(Photo courtesy of Cameron)

December 11th

And after waiting almost two months after I'd ordered them, I finally got to pick up my new glasses. (Photo courtesy of Sage.)

December 10th



After nearly a week after we'd decorated the house for Christmas, we finally set up the ceramic tree that my mom made. We put it in Sage's room.

December 9th



Tonight, we had Austin's noon choir concert, along with the grade 7 & 8s choirs and bands.

December 8th

My day:

Took the kids to piano lessons before school.
Ran errands in Winkler with Cameron in the morning.
Worked in the afternoon.
Took the kids to Giant Tiger to pick up milk and bread (& an advent treat!)
Sandwiches for supper.
Practised piano.
Went to tae kwon do.
Came home. Read the chapter of our advent story.
Went to bed.

December 7th

Today was Sage's school Christmas concert. She is so fun to watch sing and perform. And ever-so-cute to catch her talking or singing along with the other groups as she watches them!

A Christmas ornament

Our church puts up a Christmas tree in the foyer that is a Memory tree. People bring ornaments to hang there in memory of a loved one who is no longer with us.

I was asked to bring an ornament and to share at the front of the church about the ornament (why I chose it), who it represents and one thing that that person taught me.

Well, I didn't feel like buying an ornament, so I decided to make one instead. (Surprise, surprise.)

I was inspired by Danielle Flanders' Icicle box ornament and even used the same template that she did.

So here's my ornament, which I made in memory of my dad:



And here's what I shared in church:

"I am bringing an ornament today in memory of my dad, Trevor Roy Davies, who passed away on May 1st, 2000, after a 3 and a half year battle with cancer. So this Christmas will be the 11th one that we’ve celebrated without him. Which, to me, it is quite unbelievable to think that he has never met two of my children and that he’s been gone for so long.

The ornament I’m hanging on the tree is one I made, because, well, I like to make things. It’s an icicle ornament that I made out of a map, because my dad came from England, which is on here, but also because he loved to travel. It can be filled with Werther’s candies, because those were my dad’s favourites. And on the tag here, I cut it from a dictionary for the word gentleman, because my dad was a true English gentleman.

I’ve been thinking about my dad all week, trying to decide what one thing he taught me that I should share, and I kept coming back to this: my dad taught me how to show love in the moment. He taught me the importance of being there for my loved ones, in seemingly little ways, which add up over time. An example: in all my years of school, my dad never missed a concert or recital of mine. When I would come on stage to perform, I would look out into the audience and find my dad, waving at me, like this. That was his wave. He made me feel important to him and loved, which is something I definitely want to pass on to my kids."

Thanks for looking!

December 6th

Today, I addressed my Christmas cards and photos. I also mailed most of them and put the photos in the boxes at church. I didn't order enough photos, so I reordered some from Walmart and hope to get there this week to pick them up.

Tonight, we had our tae kwon do fundraiser; we kicked for an hour (for me, this was a total of 350 kicks-- round house (125), front snap kick (50), step-behind side kick (25), axe kick (25), fast kick (25), back spin kick (50) and 360 roundhouse (50).) Our family raised $200 for this, with all the proceeds going to Christmas Cheer.

December 5th

Today, we went to church and Sunday school this morning. After lunch, we decorated the Christmas tree and then set up the tripod to take some family photos.



I got this one while we were waiting for Cameron and Sage.





A couple of family ones with the timer.







And then some of just the kids.
(The last one is my favourite!)

Thanks for looking!

December 4th

Today was a day of fun: some planned and some unexpected.

The unexpected: the kids' cousin, Luke, dropped by this morning and took the kids skating at the nearby outdoor rink. They were gone for over 2 hours and had a blast!



While they were gone, I cleaned up the house and put up the Christmas decorations. I kept it pretty simple this year, opting to not put out several things, focusing mostly on our two manger scenes: one is Precious Moments and the other is Willow Tree.

When the kids got home, we had lunch and then, after Luke left, we put up the Christmas tree and lights. I was happy to see that Sage still gets a kick out of playing in the Christmas tree box!



And I was thrilled to get this shot...



... and this one...



Then, this evening, Cameron & I had our school division banquet, so I had Sage climb up on a chair and take a picture of us. She took several and this was the best one (on the other ones, my chin was cut off!)



Thanks for looking!

December 3rd

I signed up to bring treats to work for the staff at the high school. After school, the kids will play hot & cold to find their treat-- a How to Train Your Dragon DVD, which we'll watch together as a movie night. The perfect way to end a busy week.

December 2nd

Today's note in the advent calendar: "Take some treats to your teachers at school."

Thanks for looking!

It's December 1st...

... which means a few things....

#1. My wrap up for my November Attitude of Gratitude:

Monday, November 29th: winning stuff

On Monday, I won a My Mind's Eye prize pack from Studio Calico! :) Free goodies are always a good thing!

Tuesday, November 30th: being on the My Scrap Shoppe design team

I can't believe it was 5 years ago when Marcy sent me an email telling me that I'd been chosen to be a member of the MSS Design Team! I started in December 2005 and have loved every minute of it. Marcy carries such great product and puts together such wonderful kits that it's so easy to promote them for her. Add to that the terrific friends I've made through her store-- well, let's just say, it's all good.

Which brings me to...

#2. Three of the layouts I made with the MSS December kit, which had lots of Studio Calico goodies in it:


Using some wood frames, pp & stickers from Studio Calico-- very cool!


On this layout, I tucked the journaling behind my top photo.




And a layout about our dog walking experiences for the HS this summer.

#3. December first means the beginning of my December Daily photos. The kids were asking about the advent calendar on Sunday already (the beginning of advent.)

This year, I decided that I wanted the focus of our advent calendar to shift from getting (little treats, special things we do for us as a family, etc.) to giving (things we can do/share to spread our light this Christmas).

To be honest, this was met with mixed reactions. Austin was actually quite for it & Jonah didn't say much. But Sage seemed quite upset about it. Which saddens me a bit, but I'm determine to stay the course. (Of course, some days will still have treats or be focused on our family events, too, so it should be fine.)

That said, here's my December Daily photo and post for today:



Dec. 1st: A busy day with piano lessons before school & working all day. After school, I found the advent calendar & printed up today's "task". We delivered the meal to a very grateful new mom. The kids loved seeing the baby! It made me think of how Jesus came as a baby so small & helpless.

Thanks for looking!