Monday 16 January 2012

Real Life Confessions of a Christmas Misspent

This is where I come clean ... remember the post on December 10th where I admitted to being 5 days behind with journalling my Christmas ... well that was it ... I didn't manage another page!  Not a single one.
My JYC album just didn't suit - neither the time available, the photos I had, nor the things that happened!  I barely had time to read the prompts, let alone mull over what to scrap for the day.  At a certain point I realised it would be too draining to have the project hanging over me all through January, so I chose to let go, move on, call it a day!

Instead I decided to take inspiration from Siân's December month in numbers & Alexa's Christmas numbers journalling and capture some of our festive memories in a single page. 


The page is based on the monthly challenge sketch from UKScrappers and uses my January Counterfeit Kit, an X-cut border punch, some of the packaging from Susanne's Christmas packages as well as the most perfect embellishment from inside the packaging!
This is indeed REAL life - not everything works out the way you plan it:
  • sometimes you can't find the power lead for the tree lights and have to buy new ones (only to have the missing lead magically reappear)
  • sometimes teenagers simply will not cooperate for a photo (or even get out of bed on Christmas morning to open their presents)
  • sometimes you get so carried away with the food shopping that you don't need to return to the shops for nearly a week, even though they are only closed for one day!
But there's still a whole load to be thankful for including:
  • a son who wants to help with the cooking (if not the washing up)
  • a daughter who loves to help decorate the tree (and would be happy for it to be up all year round)
Oh and for the record, a 14lb turkey is about 3 days too big for our family of six (plus the dog)!!

17 comments:

Anonymous said...

I finally finished mine - but I was not happy with my format this year either and struggled to get into it. Love that you could walk away and take a different approach and I love the resulting page :)

Susanne said...

Oh your page is so cool. In addition to the perfect embellishment (wink!), I really like that you got so many pictures on one page without it being a collage. I am pinning your page for sure! And I totally don't understand how anybody has time to journal Christmas while it's happening. Something else can't be getting done - at least it wouldn't in this house.

scrappymo! said...

Lovely. Those red print snowflakes are precious.

I am afraid to say our 23 pound turkey is gone in a flash! Of course it helps that the 2 kids each take a big tupperware full to share with their family (for sandwiches the following day).

Mary B said...

Love it and the story behind it well done on not stressing and deciding that to abandon it is the best way forward.

CoventryAnn said...

Great idea to have a numerical Christmas page. Love it :)

Sian said...

I think that's a perfect plan - and it's a beautiful page. Keeping it real sometimes sounds like a corny expression, but I think keeping it real scrapbooking is the only way to go :)

Melissa said...

Your layout turned out wonderful. I'm glad you were able to let the JYC project go since it wasn't working for you this year. I've done a December Daily type album the past two years, but 2011 I just wasn't inspired for that type of project either. So glad you've captured the good, the funny, & the not-so-good of your Christmas.

Alison said...

Great page Jemma...it just shows that keeping it simple works!
Alison xx

furrypig said...

Hi Jemma I love that you were so honest and just decided to give up on JYC, it make me feel better that a 'real' scrapbooker like you didn't manage it. I took photos wrote notes made several pages was gonna catch up and do more but life got in the way! Especially once dad got admitted to hospital I just didn't feel like doing anymore! I still have 'my christmas' all piled up in the corner I think I need to admit defeat and clear it all away. Love your Christmas page it speaks volumes about your Christmas xxx

scrappyjacky said...

Love your page....and the bit about teenagers certainly resonates with me!!!

JulieJ said...

Glad you found something that works for you. My Mom does that every year with the food shopping. She even forced my Dad back to the shops because she had forgotten grapes and she HAD to have grapes! Why? We made a point of NOT eating them. Cruel or what?
Pass the Page blog hop is midday on 20th (Friday). Come over and say hello.

Fiona@Staring at the Sea said...

Great page and I love the sketch too. Some brilliant Christmas photos. I was doing December Daily rather than JYC but, like you, I abandoned ship early on! It was a huge relief in the end.
Fiona x

Jen Cro said...

I like the way you chose to journal with numbers. Great idea.

Tara O said...

I love that you allowed yourself to let it go and move on. Sometimes it is just what we need to do. I need to remember that myself! I love what you did with this page...and gosh I can relate with the teenagers AND the food shopping. LOL. (I just did the first big shp since Christmas-LOL)

Angela Toucan said...

welldone for moving on and I LOVE your layout - it's fabulous

Margie said...

So pretty-love the punched edges and the printed snowflake!

Valerie said...

I have several unfinished attempts at the December Daily - it such a hard time of year to keep up!
Your page is lovely - thanks so much for sharing it with us and playing along at The Studio!