The Sweet Holiday Memories will last forever...

Christmas cookies are always a fun holiday tradition. I remember helping my mother make them early in December... it was a family affair! Susan would make the green wreaths out of corn flakes, Jon & Jeff would make the spritzer cookies with Dad, and I would help make whatever cookie Mom came up with for me to help with. It was tons of fun it was to make AND EAT all those cookies. We would make dozens of cookies, of a least 6 different kinds, over the period of a week or two. Then, there would be great cookies for the rest of the month. In our household, the green wreaths would go first and Susan would have to remake them. You could always tell who was snitching them - his or her mouth would be green!




I decided to try to start this tradition with Annde this year since she loves to help cook. We signed up for Cookies at the daycare X-mas party. I made it easy on myself by buying predone dough (sugar and gingerbread) and let her roll it out, cut it out, and help me put it on the pans. It killed her to wait for decorating until it was cool. We had so much fun... I did the frosting, she did the sprinkles. Annde is definitely the sprinkle queen! Where did the frosting on her hands come from? Well, what mom wouldn't sneak a sample of frosting to her kid after all that hard work?!!? The cookies tasted awesome at the party. While the sugar won't keep us hyper for long, this memory will last me a lifetime!





Have a sweet Holiday Season!!

Little Bits of Love on the Branches make the Season Nice...

Every year, growing up, my siblings and I would receive handmade ornaments as Christmas gifts. My mother and her two sisters were really good at doing it each year. My mother would make almost 30 ornaments (see right) so that each person (her sisters, nephews, nieces, children, friends) would each have a special memory to put on the tree. My generation, well... with the exception of my sister and me (occasionally), doesn't really do it anymore. It a shame, really. All these wonderful hand made ornaments really make a tree look special and full of love. I can remember what year we received each and every one of these ornaments. The use of pictures (which my mom tried to do each year) would always commemorate some special occasion. My wedding was the far right, my brother's wedding the one behind it, our first house is the small one next to that... The tree is like a scrapbook as all the important dates are shown! Ande, by the time I went to college, I already had enough ornaments to fill our first christmas tree!

I feel really bad that we have lost this tradition in our family. So, I am not going to let it happen. I still have a couple of weeks to go. My shopping is done, my christmas cards are out... I am going to try to get at least 10 ornaments done - one for each of my nieces and nephews, my daughter, me, and my siblings. I bet my sister will do her's again too. Maybe we can keep this tradition alive!

Happy Holidays to all of you!

Feliz Navidad, y'all!
Yesterday, we decorated for Christmas. It was a fun day because I was able to introduce Annde to the fun of putting up the Christmas tree.

First, I put up the tree (and lights) while Dad and Annde watched "The Grinch who
Stole Christmas". Then Annde announced she was going to help put on ornaments. It brought back memories of the decorating the tree with my parents, sister, and brothers during the weekend after Turkey Day. I was a little hesitant at first: a 3 year old with a breakable ornament made me kinda jumpy. But, Annde was really careful with them, picking the right spot and then coming back for another. She would have kept going all night if I had let her.... In the end, she announced that it was "very beautiful."

I love Christmas traditions and can't wait to introduce some more of them to Annde as I think she is ready to learn the spirit of Christmas... I hope that everyone of you also has a wonderful holiday season. May the Season be Merry and Bright!

The Start of the Season

Well, with tomorrow being the first day of December, the start of the holiday season is upon us. Crack out the Christmas music, dig out the tree and ornaments, and start baking! That's what I will be doing all weekend as I prep for my christmas cookie exchange. I need to kit up the ornament we'll be making so its twice the fun!

Recently, I joined the Coordinates Collection community. I **LOVE** their kits (hint, hint, Hubby!!) and the community is such a fun group of gals! I love to spend time on the forum chatting it up or joining the challenges. The page I am posting today was one of those challenges. I am excited also because it was picked at the "Fab Find" of the week by http://www.coordinatescollections.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=2954

It was very hard for me to do... Xmas is a favorite holiday (let's not forget my birthday is at the same time!!) but I have lost both Grandfathers during this season over the years. I especially remember my Grandpa Giesler at this holiday due to this song. It's still very difficult for me to hear it and not cry.

The words are in German, as he (and my German teacher) taught me to sing it. The journaling reads:

Growing up, I remember attending Xmas Candlelight services with my Grandpa Giesler. The end of the service was my favorite part: the soft candlelight, the delicate piano notes, my Grandfather's deep bass voice singing the words to Silent Night in the language it was written in. He was proud of his heritage and didn't care if anyone else sang it with him in German. Eventually, my sister and I did too. Unfortunately, he died right before Christmas. At our request, it was sung at his funeral - in German - by my Uncle acapella. It was at that point, I realized he was really gone. As we head into another holiday season, and I pop on my bazillion CDs of Xmas music into the radio, forgive me if I skip this song. It's been 6 years and I still can't keep the tears from falling at the sound of this song.

I hope you have a fabulous week!

Post Gobble Day Greetings!

Last night, I was scrapping and came up with this page. Originally, I was going to scrap it as "Nickie and Annde build a leaf castle" but I was inspired to take a different approach... I wanted to show Annde what it takes to be a person to be proud of. Too often, we forget how to be the better person; how to be welcoming and gracious in the face of adversity. I think its a lost art and I know that I am trying to work on it myself. So, today, with the Thanksgiving holiday behind us, I find a reason to be grateful: my daughter is developing into a beautiful young lady. I still have the twinges where I want her to be the baby I remember. Here's where the next step starts; the life lessons for making her the woman I know that I will be proud of in the future.

On that same thought - Happy post Gobble Gobble day everyone! Did you all survive the hectic rushing around and cooking that comes with this holiday?

I had issues - or rather, my turkey did. Every year, we buy a fresh Amish turkey from the butcher store. Usually, it turns out beautifully. Unfortunately, this time was not one of those times. The turkey was 15 lbs so the Food Network site and Joy of Cooking both calculated the cooking time to be around 3.5-4 hours. So, we threw it in around noon for a 5pm Stuff Yourself time. However, this turkey didn't want to go along with our brillant idea. It took 6 hours to cook - 6 HOURS! I couldn't believe it!! I have never had this problem before. Guess I shouldn't try out for Martha Stewart any time soon?!?! My mother in law ended up eating a Hot Pocket because of her blood sugar being so low. Sigh... Maybe next year, eh?

This year, we actually went out to shop on Black Friday. I couldn't believe it when my hubby suggested it - he HATES shopping! We did get some good deals but all-in-all, I didn't really see anything that we wanted marked down too much. Christmas will still be awesome this year, because my whole family is getting together in Orlando. It will be full of fun since it will be the first time the cousins (my daughter, niece Emeli, and nephews Will, Braxton, and Ben) will be together in one place. With ages 3 months to 3.5 years, it should be a barrel-full of fun when Santa arrives! :)

Lastly- I didn't get picked for that design team I hurridly posted for. No biggie!! I didn't really get my heart set on it as they weren't my favorite site anyway... :)

My shout-out for today: Check out Inque Boutique (check their site out: www.goinque.com : their stamps are FABULOUS!!). The page posted used their "Princess" set. Very well priced and with lots of selection! I could only hope to make their DT as they have seriously GREAT stuff!!

So, I did the strangest thing for me... I decided only hours from the deadline to submit an application for a design team. I have no clue as to whether I will actually get picked for it but I had a lot of fun scrambling around trying to get it all done.

I think I am drawn to the idea of a design team because it not only gives me focus to get scrapping done every month (one of my new year's resolutions) but also because I think it inspires me to do more with what I am doing than simply slapping pictures on a page and calling it good. I am trying not to have too much confidence on being picked so I won't be bummed if it doesn't happen. I'll keep you posted (after the 15th when the calls go out...)

On a sad note, my SIL's mother died this week of ovarian cancer. It was incredibly sad because she had 3 young children (30s) and several infant grandchildren (3mos - 1 yr) that would have benefitted by her presence here. It really makes you think about what AND who is important in your life. I am going to try and come up with something fabulous to give to my SIL and her sister (who I am also close to) so that they can truly celebrate the great woman their Mom was and that she is still here looking out for them, not just that she isn't here this holiday season. I'll post a pic when its done!

Ta Ta for now, everyone!!

Doing it Digi-style!

This weekend, I took a digital scrapbooking class as part of Scrap-A-Faire with Rhonna Farrer. It's a weeklong online scrapbooking fair, with everything from classes and project sheets to shopping and prizes (check it out here: ). Anyway, I love Rhonna's work! She's such an amazing scrapbooker. I recommend anyone take a class by her if they can. I finally understood how to use Photoshop to scrapbook in only 30 minutes! Her class during this fair is only $15 so its a steal and you can watch it as many times as you need to! I have totally fallen for digital... and you will to once you try it out. I still love the look and construction of traditional scrapping but I think this will make a nice variation to my normal pages. :) See you at the Faire!

Shucks!

Well, I didn't get selected for the Masters. But, that's cool! I am so busy right now with work and family that it is probably for the best now. When I become a Master (not lacking in confidence, am I?), it will be the right time for me and the family. In the meantime, I will continue to scrap every chance I get. I will maybe try out for a design team or enter some more contests.

This layout is one of my older ones, talking about how organized I am at work and how unorganized I am at home... Talk about polar opposites! It just happens to amazingly fit the topic Memory Makers is looking for.

Here's the link to see what its all about: http://www.memorymakersmagazine.com/forum/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=23563&posts=1

Check back later as I will try to post some more layouts.

Well, tomorrow's the BIG DAY! Memory Makers will start to call their 10 Masters for 2008. I was so proud of myself for sending in a submission. It was, by far, the best pages I have ever done in my life. While I know that my chances are slim (around 600 people from around the world entered), I still am holding out hope! I should know one way or the other by the 22nd. Sigh! Waiting is sooo hard!

Wish me Luck!

Hello Everyone!

I decided to create a blog to showcase my scrapbook pages for publication calls. I will also list thought and ideas I come up that I think are interesting. Stay with me as I am sure that this will be a large learning experience!

See ya!