25 Days Until Christmas - Days 19 - 22

I have more pages in my 25 Days Until Christmas book to show you! I really love working on this book! I've kept up with the pages, and I'm loving how this is all coming together!


Day 19 was the day that I FINALLY got some gifts wrapped!


Day 20 shows all of our mini stockings hanging from the tree skirt. Princess didn't have a mini stocking, and Jessica got one in school, so she added Princess' name, and Princess now has one too!


Day 21 features another photo of Princess. I was throwing her soccer ball toy, and she was having so much fun and getting snow all over her face! I just had to snap a photo! I just love her! I also took a photo of a Santa decoration that is on our mantle. I just love that Santa!


Day 22 features our Target bags from our Secret Santa shopping. The four of us draw names, and we spend ONLY $20. The person who gets closest to spending $20 WITHOUT going over is definitely cheered on and admired by all of us! This year Emily got the closest to $20! The Secret Santa shopping is really a lot of fun. We are all in Target at the same time trying to keep our presents a secret! Love it!

I hope you are having a wonderful Christmas Eve day! We've done a bunch of baking, and we'll be going to my brother's house tonight to celebrate Christmas Eve! Have a wonderful time with whatever you are doing to celebrate! Thanks for stopping by!

25 Days Until Christmas - Days 15 - 18

Here are more pages from my 25 Days Until Christmas book!


This is a photo of tube sock snowmen. The girls each made one in 2nd grade, and they love putting them out every year. I love when they come out too!


This is another decoration. Dave's dad got this musical mailbox for us on our first Christmas as a married couple. So, I've been putting this on our mantle since 1993! I love it! It makes me smile! You can see another page for Day 16 peeking through.


The main Day 16 page features the photo card that I sent out mostly to family. I love sending out a photo that I took of my girls!


Day 17 features the symphonic band at the Junior High School. The girls had their Winter Concert, and it was AMAZING! They are in both choir and the symphonic band. The concert band also performed. GREAT night of music! The other photo features Jessica holding up her Amelia Earhart photo biography project and on the table is her family tree. She left both of these projects that were due on Friday until Thursday night to finish! Whew!


Day 18 features my festively dressed girls! On the last day of school before Winter Break, the Junior High has two assemblies, and the girls get to sing with the choir and play their instruments with the symphonic band. They love this last day before break! They only have a few classes, and they get to perform in front of the rest of the school, and then they perform a second time for the younger kids that come from one of the other schools in the district. It's a lot of fun for them!

I hope you're having a great day, and I hope you're ready for Christmas!! We are baking today and having lots of fun! I love this time of the year! Thanks for stopping by!

25 Days Until Christmas - Days 12 - 14

Here are some more pages from my 25 Days Until Christmas book. I love putting these pages together!


Day 12 has two pages. On the first, I snapped a photo of Jessica when she was on her way down to the basement. It's cold in the basement, and she has on thick socks, a sweatshirt, and her winter hat! She cracks me up! I love the lace that I added to the edge of the page.


Instead of putting up the BIG tree this year, we decided to put up the small tabletop tree. We love this crazy little tree. I snapped a photo of the girls decorating it, and I snapped a photo of it all lit up. Colorful Christmas lights are so pretty!


On Day 13, the girls and I FINALLY went to see New Moon. I even clipped the ticket stubs to the page. The movie was VERY good! We'll be anxiously awaiting the release of Eclipse in June!


Day 14 is also two pages. On the first, Emily is lounging in the living room with her afghan. She is reading a book, and she has a furry friend close by!

On the second page for Day 14, Jessica is playing the Wii, and it makes me laugh that she has a Santa hat on!

I hope you're having a wonderful weekend. Thanks for stopping by!

25 Days Until Christmas - Days 8 - 11

Here are four more pages from my 25 Days Until Christmas book. You can click on any of the pages to view them larger!


Christmas candy comes in the prettiest packages! So colorful and fun! I snapped a photo of some candy that I picked up, and then I couldn't resist using the HUGE glitter chipboard letters on this page! I love the little penguin with the candy cane! This page is just FUN to me!


I could take a photo a day of just Princess. She amuses me daily! On this day, she was stretched out in the middle of the family room, and she had her paw possessively over her toy motorcycle. She cracks me up! She stayed that way long enough for me to get up, get my camera, and take a photo! She poses for photos! She really does! The next photo are the goodies that the marvelous Mario sent to me when I won on Tim Holtz's blog during the 12 Tags of Christmas! Awesome Ranger distress inks, crackle paints, and Stickles! Thank you Tim! So, I added a grungeboard arrow that I painted with fired brick distress crackle paint, and I added a trio of Stickles dots in both colors! Thanks Chris for the "lucky" bingo card that you stamped for me! I also added some Tim Holtz tickets (bliss and play), and the ticket at the top was stamped with one of my Unity sets. I also used my NEW tiny attacher to add the ribbon loops to my journaling at the bottom. I can already tell that the tiny attacher is going to be one of my favorite tools EVER! How have I been creating so long without one?


See, I told you that Princess amuses me daily . . . I just love taking pictures of her! On this day, she was resting and warming up on the sunny patch on the floor in the living room! Isn't she cute? She's my sweetheart! I also did some baking because the girls needed goodies for their library helpers' Christmas party in school, so I made brownies and oatmeal raisin cookies. Yum! The tab at the top was stamped with one of my Unity stamps, and the "Baking Cookies" sentiment is from The Cutting Cafe'.


The girls came home from school on the 11th with the gifts that they received from their Secret Santa's. They were assigned a Secret Santa during NJHS. Emily got such a gorgeous fleece blanket, and Jessica got a Mokena Video gift certificate and movie snacks! What fun!

I hope you're doing a good job getting ready for the holidays! I'm doing pretty good, but I just cannot believe that it's 10 days until Christmas! December is on fast forward! I hope you have a great day, and as always, thanks for stopping by!

25 Days Until Christmas - Days 6 & 7

Here are a couple more pages in my 25 Days Until Christmas book!


On Day 6, the girls put out our Nativity Set. I sewed some lace to the border. I used another tag from Chris. I love those tags!


On Day 7, we got our first dusting of snow. The top photo shows our snow puppy! Look at that face! The bottom photo is the view out our front door. The snowflakes were bright white foam, so I used some distress ink on them to tone them down. Worked great!

I really enjoy working on this book! It's fun to record a whole month leading up to Christmas! I hope you're having a great day. Thanks for stopping by!

25 Days Until Christmas - Days 3 - 5

I wanted to share a couple more pages from my 25 Days Until Christmas book. I really enjoy working on this book!


Day 3 features one of the nine bins that we have filled with Christmas decorations. They don't all get unpacked, and I really should get rid of stuff that I don't always put out! I like that you can see Day 4 peeking through!


Day 4 features a photo of my antibiotic that I got for my bronchitis, and it also features a photo of the Chicken Club Crescent Ring that I made for dinner. The crescent rings are so pretty!


Day 5 features my people all decked out for Christmas! Dave and Emily have on Santa hats, Jessica has her reindeer ears, and Princess is wearing her Christmas bandanna! What holiday spirit!

I'm still a little sick . . . coughing still and I have a cracked rib from coughing! It's crazy! I had one last year too! We have some crazy winter weather today too! I'm glad to be inside, and I'll be glad when the girls get home from school! I hope you have a great day, and thanks for stopping by!

25 Days Until Christmas - Days 1 & 2

I wanted to show you the first two pages that I did for my 25 Days Until Christmas book.


On December 1st, we decorated the fireplace a little bit. I always love hanging our stockings! (If you look in the lower right corner of the photo, you can see Princess! And yes, she has a stocking too!) I used the decorative element that I created and showed you in this post. It's one of the many sentiments from the huge Christmas Daily printable set at The Cutting Cafe'. You can click on the pages to see them larger. Most of both of these pages is Cosmo Cricket. Pretty simple pages, and that's just the way I like them!


On December 2nd, Emily and I ran to Target for some cold pills for me, and she got a much-needed new hat and gloves, so I took a pic of her once we got home. Isn't she cute!?! I also decorated a couple of shelves in the kitchen with my favorite miniatures. I love these shelves. I used awesome tags that my blogging friend Chris sent to me. She stained them and baked them. They're totally cool! I also added a gorgeous crocheted flower that Emily made for me. I thought it was appropriate to put it on a page that features Emily!

Well, I've been sick with a bad cough, and now I have an aching side from coughing all of the time. Hopefully this cough will go away already! I hope you had a very nice Thanksgiving and that you're doing well with Christmas preparations! Have a great day, and as always, thanks for stopping by!