December Daily 2010 | Days Twenty-Four and Twenty-Five

DAY TWENTY-FOUR

Christmas eve is finally here!  For today's page I shared this photo of Matt and the kids snuggling up and reading on the couch (pictured above). 

 I added the words in Photoshop using Katie Pertiet's Text Clusters Brushes and Stamps No. 03 available from Designer Digitals.

For my journaling I used created the title in Word using this free number download from Ali Edwards  I copped it using Microsoft Paint and added just the number into my title then added my text beneath that:

JOURNALING:  This December has been a very busy month, so it was really nice to spend a few days at home and just relax once all of the holiday preparations were finally finished.  Early in the day Katie and I followed the recipe on the Chex box and made Muddy Buddies.  It is always so much fun spending time with Katie in the kitchen and helping her learn how to bake.  This year we stayed home on Christmas Eve, and my family came over to celebrate with us.  We enjoyed singing some of our favorite Christmas carols, and then we exchanged gifts.   We don’t often get together on my side of the family, so it was really nice to be able to spend those moments with my family.  There was a lot of energy and excitement with the kids, of course, but it was still a lot of fun.  There is really nothing like hearing the sound of excited giggles and laughter, all in anticipation for Christmas Day.  The kids opened gifts that my sister had brought over earlier in the week, and they also got to open one gift each from Matthew and I (Christmas jammies).  And the adults also enjoyed exchanging a few gifts we’d gotten for each other as well.  At the end of the evening after everyone had gone home Matt read Twas the Night Before Christmas to us while curled up on the couch.  Then we made sure to set out some snickerdoodles that my mom had brought over, and a glass of milk, for Santa Claus.  Afterwards we all went to bed and tried to sleep.   Even though I am all grown up I still feel the excitement and anticipation of the night before Christmas.

Then I added that photo I love of Matt and the kids:

And included a photo I took of the stockings on the back.  I edited it in Photoshop as well and added a sentiment using Ali Edwards Holiday Hand Drawn Brushes:

On the opposite page I included some of my favorite photos from our family gathering on Christmas Eve and made somewhat of a tri-fold.  I edited them using the cross process effect from Picnik to make them look like old photos and then matted them onto white cardstock to give the appearance that they are Polaroids:

DAY TWENTY-FIVE

Day Twenty-Five!  Finally. : )  I have loved doing this project, and can I just say that I think December 25th may be my favorite day of the year.  Here's the page for today:

JOURNALING:  One of the special things I love about the holidays is that we get to see and spend time with family that we don’t get to see very often. This year we spent a fairly quiet morning at home before heading over to Matt’s parents’ house to open gifts and have lunch. After we opened presents at home the kids dug into their stockings, and we went ahead and got ready while the kids played with their new toys.

Katie got new bedding, some new clothes, and a few different toys, among other things, and Josiah got a new Nerf gun set and some new Legos as well. They also got Rock Band 2 for the PS3. Definitely a fun game that we can all play!

Later we enjoyed spending the rest of the day at Tim & Shirley’s house. Matt’s brothers were unable to make it this year, so it was just us, his parents and his grandparents, and Katie, Josiah, and Maggie. It was a nice morning spent visiting and taking turns opening gifts, very peaceful and happy.

After lunch Matt and Tim took Grandpa and Nana home, then Maggie and I took a nap while the kids played and Matt and his parents visited. It was a perfect Christmas afternoon spent with family. I feel so blessed to have been able to spend the holiday together with the people that mean the most!

And a closer look at some of the embellishing:

On the other side I included a column of photos from the day:

And on the back of that some word art using Ali Edwards Hand Drawn Holiday Brushes and Stamps:

On my original foundation page I added some more of my favorite photos from the morning, and a bit of journaling:

And on the back of that some more favorites from later in the day:

For the most part I am done with this album.  All I have left to do is add a few words as an introduction and finish my title page, and hopefully I can get that post up tomorrow.  Looking forward to the new year! : )