52 in 10 - The First Entry

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I hope I can manage to keep this one up, rather than the Scrap Like You Mean It thing!

Stacey Towers 2 Hearts kit

Pole Dancing Santa For The Win!

I gave up on the whole Holidays in Hand thing, but I did get this final layout out done of my new Santa Marionette dancing around our kitchen tap!



Happy New Year!

27

I'm not sure I have a favourite present this year. They were all lovely as most of them came from my wishlist! I did get The Bettany's of Taverton High, which I've wanted for ages and the first three episodes of Doctor Who, the actual first three with William Hartnell.

I don't seem to be giving quite so much to this project now, do I?!

Boxing Day

Well, isn't that a vomit-inducing quote today?!

I actually forgot all about this on Boxing Day and only took the one photo, which features on today's layout. However, the prompt today is rather apt for the photo!

The decorations will stay up until the 12th day of Christmas. As is Traditional. OMG!!! I actually used the word "tradition"! Augh!

Merry Xmyth!

I've filled the gaps in to make it easier over the next few days!
To Write - Well, my parents arrived a lot quicker than we expected and John's came bearing mincepies. We heated up our nuts, and warmed the mulled wine. The food was made on time and we even managed to fill up John's Dad. The home-made crackers went down really well, my Dad was very happy with his power ball with his name on.

After lunch we unwrapped our presents. It was nice to be able to use the dining area and then move out to the front room and sit round the Tree. Worked really well.

To Photograph -



Here is today's layout:

Bloomin' Weather

To Write - Parents decided not to come today because of the frosts in Bristol, so we had to go out and buy a tablecloth. Nice throw away paper one with penguins on that now matches our napkins. No traditions for Christmas Eve.

To Photograph - Warmth. It melts snowmen. :*(


To Do - Buy milk, tablecloth, lunch, lay the table, hoover, wash the windows... ticky tick!

To Make - the rock cakes, because now I have self-raising flour. Yay!

22 & 23

On the 22nd we did our shopping. So here are the spuds. Some of them. The rest are called Rudolph and are red!

Playing with the manual setting on the camera while John cooked, I quite like the blurry bits.

Turkey Day

To Write - No stockings are hung as we have nowhere to hang them. The sorts of things I get for John aren't really stocking sized. He does have a stocking shaped like a paw that I sometimes put things in, but this year, as we're home, everything is going under the tree. I used to get a stocking as a child, but again, nowhere to hang it, so it went at the foot of my bed. I can see that there might be stocking traditions if you have offspring, so we'll just have to wait and see.

To Photograph - I have some stocking tree decorations, so perhaps I'll attempt a photo of them when I get home later.

To Do - I actually have things to do today for a wonder. Gilbert Gobbler our Christmas Turkey will be ready for collection at 3pm. I also need to wash the cushion covers and the sofa throw. The bathroom needs to be cleaned to a better shine (I did a rough clean yesterday) and the windows need washing.

To Make - Spiced rock cakes for the freezer.

Layout to follow.

Brr!

To Write - I would have to say that the significance of light at the holidays is so that we can see. If there wasn' t any light during the holidays we'd all spill cranberry sauce down our fronts. Not that anyone could see that we'd done so, because it would be dark.

However, today I do have a story that involves light. I read it today over on The Onion where they are featuring the Top Ten Stories of the last 4.5 Billion Years. The first is a very cute tale narrated by a Trilobite, but the best is Number Five: Sumerians Look On In Confusion as God Creates World.

"I do not understand," reads an ancient line of pictographs depicting the sun, the moon, water, and a Sumerian who appears to be scratching his head. "A booming voice is saying, 'Let there be light,' but there is already light. It is saying, 'Let the earth bring forth grass,' but I am already standing on grass."

"Everything is here already," the pictograph continues. "We do not need more stars."

To Photograph - I've already taken pictures of my tree lights and used them on previous days.

To Do - Get to work and back without landing on my arse. I managed to do that, my colleague wasn't so fortunate and came a cropper on her elbow. Ow. I also had to do some non-Christmas food shopping as we'd forgotten the other days this week when we still need to eat. Vegetables and healthy fare right up until Friday.

To Make - A real layout from paper that has Squat to do with Christmas. Part of our Inter Team Mojo Jar Challenge, this will have it's own post.

One of the Bosses brought in his own grit to grit outside our office!

Visiting Parentals

To Write - I feel very grateful for chocolate. Can't do the memory stuff today.

To Photograph - Well, we went to visit John's folks today, so not many chances for taking piccies. I did have my iPhone with me, so I've used one of those pictures for today's layout.

To Do - go to London with John to make sure he's OK on the slippery roads.

To Make - nothing to make today, no time!

Weekly Challenge - Pumpkin 2009

I went digital this week. Doing the Holidays in Hand thing has really put a crimp on my paper mojo. So this is:

1. A scraplift. I've chosen to scrap this layout by Debbie on UKS. (if you're not a member you won't be able to see the Gallery, sorry about that!)
2. Stitching - digital stitches.
3. Scraps. Well, that one is a bit tricky as a digi, so I've chosen to use Scrap Girls freebies as they are all individual pieces and aren't part of a set or a kit.

Thanks for the great challenge ladies!

Stitching - Stacey Towers
Gold Leaves - Bon Scrapatit
Everything Else - Scrap Girls Freebies

Work-Do Day

To Write - I can't really write on a public blog what I'm most excited to give! The person might see it! I can write that I was excited about the Secret Santa that we had at our Work Party today. My colleague seemed happy with the Jeep I bought him:


and I had fun with my Santa Marionette:

Once again, I am tradition-free when it comes to parcel wrapping. However, John is very good at the bows-and-ribbons thing, so since I've been with him I try harder with my parcel wrapping.

To Photograph - Oh, good grief! Another day when I've already taken this picture, see The Fifteenth for close up parcels and above for photos!

To Do - Prepare for tonight's party!

To Make - Merry! Again! ;)


Our deely-boppers play Jingle Bells!
Ric rac by Stacey Towers.

Today is the 12th

To Write - I'm afraid this one draws a blank again on all fronts. I don't watch holiday movies on purpose at this time of year. In fact, I'm not even sure I can name a holiday film that I've watched all the way through or enjoyed. What a Bah Humbugging Scrooge I am! I don't mean to be. :(

To Photograph - Obviously without the DVD collection, I can't take any pictures. So, here's a picture of John and I with the tree:


To Do - DECORATE THE TREE!!!!! YAY!!!!

To Make - Tree bows. More of them!

I left this one a bit plainer as it's rather obviously the Tree, but I duplicated the layers and used multiply on them to make the colours darker.

Legs Eleven!

To Write - Had the first party of the holidays last week with John's friends. It wasn't too bad, but it wasn't a place I would visit again. Tried too hard to do "posh" food and ended up wth OK food. Nice Christmas pudding flavoured ice-cream.

Next week it's the Christmas party for my work and we're off to d'Arry's. Hopefully the food will be better than last week simply because it's heartier pubbier grub. Of course, it has to be better than last week as we're doing a Secret Santa and that's bound to be fun!

To Photograph - Holiday clothing? Terribly sorry, but I don't own any! Instead I'll recall this "holiday party from the past"


Work party 2007 - well, it IS in the past! :)

To Do - Hmm. I have some lists to write to prepare for Christmas and need to find a sparkly top.

To Make - Ribbons for the baubles. Done - and see Layout for today!


As usual - backwards brad by Stacey Towers.

Day Off

To Write - Another day and again I am at a complete loss as to what to write about. Perhaps it's the wording? "Holiday sights" implies sightseeing to me, like "Wow! Great Wall of China!", which was pretty impressive.

How that is supposed to be transfered to Christmas, I don't understand. Do they mean, "Wow! That turkey looks yummy!" or the sight of pressies under the tree? Perhaps. However, the Remember section asks about Holiday Sights from Childhood. The sight of my Father falling asleep after dinner? Although, strictly speaking that isn't reserved for either Christmas or my childhood.

I'm really failing at this Holidays in Hand thing, aren't I?!

To Photograph - "Something that delights your eyes" - Chocolate Santas!!!


To Do - stay home and recover from yesterday.

To Make - nothing more complex than dinner!


Backwards brad and glitter splash by Stacey Towers.

The Layout for Eighth

Stitching and Ric Rac by Stacey Towers.

Birthday Woot!

To Write - the sentimental decorations are all with my parents. One is a... erm... it's this Thing. Or Things... one bit has a leg missing, one is Comedy/Tragedy mask, one bit is clock with googly eyes. They all dangle off a ring on bits of string. It's really old, really small and really, really creepy. No idea what They are, but I've always loved Them.

To Photograph - no can do. Decorations aren't up yet. Christmas isn't allowed to begin until at least tomorrow. Besides, it's three weeks away for goodness sake! However, I can give you yesterday's picture today, my newest joyful possession:

Her name is Serenity, and she kicks ass, just like Serenity is supposed to. Oh yes, I have a gorram iPhone. Interesting...

To Do - Go out for birthday lunch and go shopping. Done!

To Make - Squat. It's my birthday. You should be making me things!

Remember - our decorating traditions involve finding a Charlie Brown Christmas Tree and throwing all sorts of eclectic decorations at it. Also not decorating every room and every surface with as much tat as possible. Although this year our new hallway lights are sort-of asking to be tinsel hangers...

Backwards brad by Stacey Towers

December 2nd - not Xmyth yet!

Right. What does today's prompt have in store?
Well, that reminds me that I didn't take yesterday's picture!

I started to read the article yesterday and I didn't get too far as it didn't seem my kind of thing. I don't read those magazines full of perfect homes and certainly don't lust after a perfectly decorated house. My tastes are far too eclectic for that. At some point there will be pictures of this years tree and it will look as if someone has walked up to it with a box of decorations collected from the year dot and emptied it over the top... which is pretty much accurate!

I don't have any memories of making any specific recipe with an older family memory. I spent most of my time at Grandma's hiding in her tiny broom cupboard (I was very upset when I finally became too big for it) rather than helping her baking, but being in the broom cupboard was only fun when Grandma was in the kitchen! Didn't cook with Nanny either, but then we were too busy dancing round the kitchen like fairies or playing trains on the landing.

Once again, all I did today was go to work and the only thing I made was a paper layout. So that's pretty much the subject of today's layout:

I bought some cheap Laurence Llewellyn Bowen scrapping papers at the local outlet store. Generally they're awful with some dreadful designs, but after some distressing and inking a few of them aren't so bad.

"Something warm" picture to follow?

Once again, the bits that aren't HiH kit are by Stacey Towers.

Reindeer

The first Holidays in Hand layout

The ribbon is Stacey Towers Cinnamon Swirls kit. I expect I'll be using quite a bit of that kit on these layouts as it's so festive

Holidays in Hand - December First

Well, starting this at work because it's quiet here today. I haven't filled in the bits about "to do" and "to make" as you were supposed to print these out and I can't do that with my tiny non-colour printer and make them look good.

Idiotically I made the crackers yesterday and wrapped a secret santa present. Should have saved those things for today, but I wasn't thinking.



So today we're supposed to write about our family's "Holiday Values". Firstly, let's address the term "holiday". As far as I can tell, I'm at work, not on holiday. I do get some extra holiday days this month as I've saved the days up throughout the year. This month is also quiet in this business, so there's plenty of time to do these blog entries!

Saying that we don't have holiday values makes us sound like a dreadful family, but my parents aren't huge fans of Christmas and it's not like either of them believe in any sort of religion to make it a religious holiday. So, for me, Christmas was always a tree, pretty lights, some pressies and maybe Nanny coming over for dinner. Not far removed from the day three weeks before - my birthday.

I suppose if I end up with offspring then we'll make our own Christmas memories and "values", but they're going to be brought up as happy little science-loving atheists with the ability to think for themselves rather than being indoctrinated into some crazy religion - hence me calling it Xmyth as the whole season is full of myth and Christians stealing their ideas from earlier beliefs and religions.

Your Xmyth value should be to live as good a life as you can and to be a good person, but surely that's for all year and not just for Xmyth? So why all this stuff about "holiday" values? Bizarre.

Earliest Holiday Memory: I certainly remember realising early on that Santa was fictitious and that it was my father creeping in with a stocking. However, I was worried that the pressies would stop if I told my parents that I was no longer a believer! The presents still come though and my Dad still looks like Santa.

Digital layout featuring the excitement that is today will follow. As will "Welcome to December" picture of my family, which is, of course, John and I, perhaps featuring Melman!