the official santa photo

If you recall last year...
I could not get the kiddies anywhere near Santa.
This photo...


makes me happy.

Miss S and I were at the shopping mall, there was no line up, and she actually wanted to go visit with Santa! Happy day.

R is still just enjoying Santa from afar.

where women create

You must check out the Where Women Create blog right now {or click on the widget in my sidebar}! They are giving away fabulous prizes from the most talented artists, every day from December 1 through December 12. I am crossing my fingers that I win something...

daily december

How did December get here so quickly?

I always think I am going to be more ready than I am for the holiday season. I have finished most of my Christmas shopping {just need a few small things and teacher gifts}, have the outside of the house all decorated, and some of the inside.

I am excited to complete a December Daily album this year, a tradition started by Ali Edwards and copied by scrapbookers all over {you can read more about what it is here, and see her 2009 album here}.

I finished the cover of my album last week...

and filled it with the pages, all ready to go {most made last year and never used!}

I painted a 7gypsies chipboard album from my stash, with teal paint and then painted over it with crackle paint in the 'old paper' color. I distressed it with the distress ink in the same color and sanded away some of the paint. This was my first time using the crackle paint {in scrapbooking anyway - I have crackle painted an armoire}...

I am sure Renee is laughing at me for this, because I bought the distress products ages ago and haven't used them. I always say it is "too much technique for me" - I like to scrapbook the quick and easy way...but this was fun and didn't take long at all {other than waiting for the very thick paint to dry}!

During December I will post my daily photos and album pages. Stay tuned!

inside daily december

The inside pages of my Daily December album, ready and waiting to be filled with our memories of December 2009...

























I actually made most of these pages last year, but then did not have enough time to complete the album {last year was a crazy time - we were selling our house right before Christmas, so not a lot of extra decorating or scrapbooking got done}! So I am attempting this again.

If I had done the pages this year I think I would have used a different style of papers, etc. But because the idea of this album is to make documenting your holidays quick and easy, I am resisting the urge to re-do it!

Now all I have to do, during the busy holiday season, is snap a quick photo, print it out at home {on my handy dandy photo printer, a gift from K last Christmas}, stick the photos in the album and add a few small embellishments.

Happy December!

radio city christmas spectacular

{photo taken from here}

I got home from a girl's weekend away {photos coming soon} just in time to catch the Radio City Christmas Spectacular show starring the Rockettes, at Scotiabank Place. I took Jill with me to enjoy the show from our box seats, but it would have been even better if we could have brought our kiddies along. I wish there had been an afternoon show, as it was too late on a Sunday night for my kiddies, even to see Santa dancing with the Rockettes.

What a fabulous show! I loved the hundreds of dancing Santas, the falling toy soliders and the virtual double decker bus tour of New York. I love the history of the Rockettes. You can check out some video of the show here. Ottawa was lucky to be one of the few Canadian cities that made the tour. One day I would love to see the show at Radio City Music Hall...Christmas in New York would be amazing! I think I will have to make that trip happen sometime in my lifetime...

Now that I am in a Christmas kind of mood, I am starting to plan more festive activities for our family. What kind of Christmas are you planning?