Daybook

 Today..... Saturday, January 20, 2018

Looking out my window..... I see a bunch of brown grass showing in the field across the road, and quite a few cows standing around and chewing their cud.

I am thinking.....  That Saturdays are the perfect days to spend journaling.

I am thankful.....  For catalogs with hand-drawn pictures like this one.

One of my favorite things..... Is the paper trimmer my Mum bought last year during the back to school sale. I use it so often, no more crooked lines for me!

I am wearing.....  A sea-foam-green shirt, and cream colored skirt with mauve flowers.

I am creating.....  A new junk journal. I'm still using my old one, but it's rapidly being filled and it's about time I make a new one.

I am reading..... Like usual, a nutrition book. As of today, I am reading "The Happiness Diet", it's a very good book and I love all the history they give on various "foods", take Crisco for example.

I am hoping.....  That my family will still be in good health for tomorrow so that we can go to church. Sicknesses in the Winter are so unpredictable that I'm never certain that our plans shall go unaffected.

I am learning.....  How to make a journal cover that isn't warped, or weak, or lopsided. I believe the journal I'm working on now is my eighth (?).

In the kitchen.....  A pan of blueberry lemon cupcakes are cooling before I can go frost them.

Picture thought..... Just looking at my journaling supplies makes me happy.

'Twas the Day After Christmas

  It's really the same thing every year, for months I look forward to Christmas with an enthusiasm that can't truly be explained. I put all of my time and energy into creating festive things, from Christmas ornaments, to gifts, to cookies, and various treats. Then, on Christmas Eve I am a-twitter with excitement. The following day is much like a passing dream and then it's all over. Nothing can express the sorrow that seems to flood me throughout the week after Christmas.

  Usually I spend my week after Christmas doing nothing but mourning for the holidays of my past while staring dismally at the ghost of Christmas that lingers everywhere, like scraps of wrapping paper, leftover treats, the empty tree, and everything else that has faded in some way or another.

  But this week after Christmas I was surprised and still am as each day that greets me is actually fresh and full of delightful activities (minus having to do Geometry of course). I wanted to let you guys see what my day after Christmas was like so I shall compose a list. And just in case you are wondering, no, I did not not spend the day after Christmas in my pj's, having a LOTR marathon whilst munching on leftovers. Not that I'd frown upon those of us who have done just that though.


My Day After Christmas


I spent hours reading a book.

I began planning a high tea party.

I got to work on finishing a crocheted lace table runner that I want for my tea party.

I got most of my New Year's goals written down and dreamed over.

I ate part of my mini gingerbread house (it's actually made of graham crackers.)

I read my old diaries.

I poetically daydreamed over my gifts.

And lastly I had a chocolate from a box of delightful things a friend had given to me.


After Christmas fun, is so much better than after Christmas blues!

Christmas Tag

1. What is your favorite Christmas movie?

  I love The Most Wonderful Time of the Year, it has such an enjoyable combination of wittiness and fun, and to be honest I am a huge fan of Henry Winkler so his being in the movie made it even better.

2. Have you ever had a white Christmas?

  Every single Christmas I had since I can remember has been really snowy, until this year which seems to be nothing but drab and rainy. We still have a little time before Christmas gets here, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

3. Have you ever built a gingerbread house?

  No, I haven't ever made an actual gingerbread house but I would like to someday.

4. Candy canes or gingerbread men?

  Hmm, I actually abhor gingerbread so I have to choose candy canes. I can still remember when I was a little girl I used to lick the candy canes that hung on our tree when I thought no one was looking.

5. Is your Christmas tree real or fake?

  Our Christmas tree is fake, two years ago Diane and I went and got a real tree for our room, and I can still hear the pine needles falling onto the floor in the middle of the night. Not that listening to pine needles was that bad, but trying to clean them out of our carpeting was horrible.

6. What's the best Christmas gift you have ever received?

  Honestly out of all the gifts I have ever received, my favorite one was the one that I got when I was eight, I was excitedly tearing the crisp wrapping paper off of my present and I couldn't believe my joy when I saw that I had gotten a box of corn flakes, it seemed so wonderful to have a whole box of cereal for myself. My Mom and Dad just laughed and told me to open it, and nestled inside the box was my very own cookbook and cake decorating supplies. I can remember squealing in stunned excitement since baking was my favorite thing ever to do.

7. Are you a pro at gift wrapping or do you fail miserably?

  Not to sound vain or anything but I would consider myself a pro. The credit goes to my Mom for teaching me how to wrap a present prettily when I was a little girl.

8. What is your favorite food at Christmas?

  Christmas breakfast is the best, I don't have a specific favorite but getting to eat as much bacon as you can is pretty awesome.

9. Eggnog, hot chocolate, or peppermint mocha? What is your favorite Christmas drink?

  Ah! I can think of nothing better than to snuggle under a warm blanket with a book and a mug of hot chocolate when the winter time begins.

10. What is your favorite Christmas song?

  Either Jingle Bell Rock or  It came upon a Midnight Clear.

11. Do you go Christmas caroling? Do carolers come to your house?

  Not to sound like a grinch but I don't like caroling. Carolers used to come to our house when we lived in Missouri, but they don't where we live now.

12. What is your favorite Christmas candy?

  Ooh! My favorite Christmas candy is the Mint Chocolate Truffles my Mom makes every Christmas, sadly they never last very long.

13. Do you make homemade candy for Christmas?

  Oh yes we definitely make homemade candy, every Christmas Day we have lots of candy to snack on all day long, making the candy is probably my favorite part Christmas prep.

14. When it comes to Christmas gifts do you prefer to buy or make the things you give? Receive?

  Though buying the gifts is definitely easier I find it much more satisfying to make everything yourself. And both store bought and homemade gifts are equally as fun to receive in my opinion.

15. Do you open gifts on Christmas Eve or wait until Christmas morning?

  I never understood why anyone would open their presents on Christmas Eve, it goes against the grains of how an average Christmas should go, my OCD-ness would drive me crazy opening gifts the day before Christmas.

16. Do you go to Christmas Eve services at a church?

 I think we did one year. I still remember something with candles and singing Silent Night.

17. Have you ever had a ride in a one horse open sleigh?

  No I haven't, but the dreaminess in me would absolutely love to have a sleigh ride, I'd feel as if I belonged in a fairy tale if I ever got to have a sleigh ride.

18. Do you like fruitcake?

  I love fruitcake, the good kind though, during the holiday season edible bricks so often get passed around from family to family as a so called fruitcake. Every year my Mom makes a very moist and tender fruit cake filled with delicious fruits so I don't have to worry about politely eating nastiness.

19. Do you make your own Christmas cookies, or do you prefer the store bought kind? Sprinkles, or no?

  Making homemade Christmas cookies is only one of the most fun things to ever do when Christmas time rolls around, Sean, Diane, and I always make a lot of cookies on Christmas Eve to enjoy the next day. And since I love baking, making cookies is one of my favorite Christmas traditions ever.

  And though I do love sprinkles I normally just put decorating sugar on my cookies, I find they taste better that way.

20. Of the 12 days of Christmas ..... which one is your favorite?

  The third day of Christmas is my Favorite, I don't know whether it's because of the french hens or because of the fact that there are so many more "Days of Christmas" ahead.

Christmas Time is Coming.

  With Christmas merrily prancing towards us I feel that it is only appropriate to start making Christmas inspired posts. After all, my favorite holiday deserves a spot on my blog.
 
  Every single year around Christmas time the house bursts with Christmas Spirit, the smell of baking Christmas treats wafts through the house, Christmas songs are being sung loudly by my little brother, our Christmas tree shimmers and twinkles when Sean crawls under to light the tree, homemade gifts are stuffed every where and pretty much everyone is bursting with all the secrets they can hardly keep to themselves. Goodness I love Christmas!

  But like every single Christmas before this one there is always one big problem, what ever am I supposed to give to my Dad and brothers, men are such hard to shop for people. I always manage to scratch something together last minute but all the frantic thinking just about wears my brain out.

  This year all of us "children" are making homemade gifts for each other, I have literally spent hours creating things, and now if only I knew what to make for my Dad and Eldon I'd be all set. Maybe tonight as midnight arrives a twinkling star will shoot past my bedroom window and glorious inspiration will suddenly take root in my mind. They say if you wish upon a Christmas star......