A note made with Penultimate

Joy to the World!

Rejoice! Rejoice! I am singing alleluyah....... Well, because of the holiday season and maybe some more....

1. I got mail and I've always wanted to share it with you since I received this news on my birthday. Three months! Can you believe my self control? I was so excited to open this little package last week, and I can't take it anymore. I reckon it would be official and no hiding it from the public. With your permission my bff, I am posting this very special news with total submission. My heart is singing with joy right now for you and Carrie. Congratulations on your engagement! No worries, I photoshoped the invite so you won't get surprise visits on your "day".

2. Another package was waiting for me last night!

Surprisingly it was a bigger box this time. Oh my!

There goes my Christmas shopping. Ssshh... I might have overspent with 10 of those bags inside so don't tell my honey ok. But I did get good deals coz Studio Calico has given $5.00 off on add-ons for subscribers and a big sale on Black Friday. Now I can play with new Christmas products- yoo hoo! Do you ever feel like declaring bankruptcy after the holiday is over? Not that I have something to declare but just wondering.....

3. I might as well put a big hole in all of  my pockets. It felt good to have a day-off today and get the shopping over and done with. Mom was so much fun to watch. She was like this young lady ready to change her wardrobe and get into the latest fashion. You gotta see her new boots-- I am so jealous! Gotta thank my honey for all his patience too. How much more suffering can a man endure with two women shoppers in tow?

4. Now, with the most exciting part, guess what? I finished my 13th and not only that, my 14th JYC pages as well! Yay! I'd say that I had most fun doing these two because first off, the 13th is my forte. You know, when you know so much about a subject that you want to put it out there and tell all? I'm not going to brag about it coz I am not the type of person at all. It just happened that I lived it, experienced it and it is still a big part of my life:

Since I was a young girl, I was a choir member of our church in town which was considered  the biggest church where I lived and still is. It wasn't the most influential of my singing career-to-be/dream but I had so much fun with this group at the time. It was with them that I finally got involved in Christmas Caroling every evening and each and every song had to end with "we wish you a merry christmas!......and a happy new year!" And the envelope is handed to us even before we start singing this closing song. We sang well but I guess some people just don't like being disturbed or reminded that they had to give some charity, or something..... I miss those days and they never have them here on the Island! Should I start it? Thank humanity for Karaoke and boy, am I so glad I decided to buy one from the Philippines on my last holiday. So every evening after Christmas dinner, my honey would take the big screen out and start singing (his singing has also developed since then). Would you believe that mom sings too? No one does "Tennesse Waltz" better, and her "Beautiful Brown Eyes" just take us down to memory lane.... Sing it! Santa baby....

5. Tales of Gifts or Gift giving: speaking of mom, she'd always prefer, and maybe because it has been a tradition that every Christmas morning, we all gather at her place and pass on the gifts, and there we open them one by one before my honey leaves to do his Christmas visit at Randy's. But last year, because we now have our own place, we still kept the tradition going but again the venue has changed. So if any of you would like an exchange of gifts or receive gifts for that matter, now you know where we are and at what time. If you miss it, well, better luck next year....

This is back page of that picture above of my honey strumming his guitar with lyrics (he typed on a vellum, thanks Hon) of "Santa Baby" and chords for him as a reminder to learn how to play it, (he asked for it... ). I took this one at Starbucks in town along with other goodies I asked from the barista one cold weekend.

Like a little girl with her legs folded under her bum on the floor this morning, I finished this page off with my new Mr. Huey creamy white mist. Hope you enjoyed the story of the day.



Almost caught up on a Sunday!

HOlly Hannah! It's the eleventh-- or the twelfth? Lazy blogger or just not inspired? Honestly, it's been a whirlwind in my little world and I won't even go to details here. Let's go straight to our JYC posts, shall we?

My Christmas stories are always about two lives in different countries that I lived over the years of my travel. One is about my life in the Philippines, then the other is my present one which at this moment and hopefully for a very long time will be in Canada. Since I moved to the Island and got married, Christmas became more of a new tradition that I get so excited about and embrace. I guess because part of the Christmas preparation is now shared and not just mine that ends up more of a chore although I still love the end result of both. One was when I used to be called Santa because I used to hide in my room till midnight and would come out with gifts for everybody- exhausted!

Thank God for partnerships! And did I warn you about my recycled products-- Starbucks et al!?

For my Holiday Lists this Year:

1. Shopping List: On-line and the good ol fashion mall. If you ask me, I would prefer going on-line than  shoving with the crowd and hurting my feet! This year, I'm doing both just because I still find good deals at the mall and despite the pain, I still enjoy window shopping (for myself :).

2. Things to do, still... have you found yourself running out of time once this holiday season strikes to one? I do and I haven't done much neither.

3. At a glance, Christmas Calendar: thought I'd include a list of the JYC prompts bec. I find myself going into my email all the time when it's time to craft. How convenient is a list at a glance!

Thanks honey for holding that for me.....

Decorations are bright......
For this post, I will pass. I have so many photos that I would like to include in my album and I am going to have them printed in tiny sizes to make a collage. This will be photos of the decorations I've seen around places we've been this year and some from our home last year. And some of them I have already posted here and some are the following. I do hope you are not falling asleep because there are some more posts to go. I only have this Sunday off and then another one this week so I'd like to include everything I finished here. Although some of my posts are still missing the journaling and more photos......

Aaahhh... pretty things everywhere.....

Traditions: love them all. This year I would like to talk about more of mom's tradition. Since it's my 5th Christmas being a Johnson, this tradition is one of my favorites. Mom would usually get the Turkey fr the grocery store thru her rewards points (smart huh!) then, the Christmas begins! I'd say that this marks the beginning because this is what brings us altogether, working with each other like a real team and enjoying the fruits of our labor together. The only change is the venue: since we bought our house last year, I think dinner preparation is done here and the rest of it. Mom stays with us overnight so we can all enjoy our Christmas evening together. I have two more photos to post along with this one but later......

Have you done all your wrapping yet? Do you usually use the same type of wrapper for all your gifts? Or do you use one type for each person you are giving? Or maybe you are the type who likes variety or recycle whatever you rescued from the previous years? Do you use ribbons and/or tags or doesn't really matter? Is it the wrapper or is it the gift that matters to you most? This year, I found this paper tissue from Pier1 on our early Christmas shopping. I will definitely use this for the most part but I will keep some for later as part of my hoarding addiction..... Tags were from Michael's and got them on good deals last year.

Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree.....

It's a fold for this post which I've always wanted to make and I love it!

Last but not the least, whew! Our Christmas past, anyone? Again, this will be another one of the good ol' memories I have back home. I miss home, I miss the times when my mom would come home every year for Christmas. I remember one Christmas day when my Uncle Freddy arrived from work with this vintage long car ( had no idea about cars at all back then!) and as soon as he parked at the garage, we were all outside waiting for him. Little did we know that we were in for a surprise. His trunk popped-up and there she was, all smiles with very short hair. Turned out that my mom and my uncle were on a conspiracy. My grandparents almost had a heart attack! Seriously, I still can't figure out how they did it up to this writing.....

I will always miss home and our Christmas together......

Your turn!



Counting down on my delayed posts.....

My delayed posting starts. For day two, I decided to do my snow photos since I love snow and this may just be the big dump we'll get, who knows? Underneath the photos on the right is my journaling about this day. I also attached another sample of my newfound snowflake which I folded here this time. Last year I actually posted on how to make the 3d ones.

So it continues.... Haven't been very good with my promises lately. Who said I can keep blogging everyday this December? Guess that's me huh! And I'm afraid this will keep on going. But hey, it's the holiday season. Life gets in the way. Work is busier and there's a long list of chores to be done at home too. Aside from that, none of my holiday projects have been done; haven't sent any card to anybody which making them is another project turning out to be a failure too. Oh well, we'll get there. They will be made but sending them out is another day. Trouble with having families and friends from the distance, you have no choice but to make it to the deadline or it can wait another year over again...Which is why I created this blogline. It also saves me from making my traditional newsletter every year. This one keeps me close to home- anytime.

Who doesn't want to have a perfect Christmas? If money were no object, what would you do? If given the time in the world, how would you spend your Christmas? If guilt is non-existent, where would you be? If Santa Claus is for real, what would you wish for? If there's no hindrance, what would be your perfect Christmas? Hmmmm.... If I won the lottery (which is what most of us would wish for, I bet!), let me see.... Has anyone seen the commercial about a girl that made a phone call and she was screaming when she finally said it a few times that she did win the lottery?! It turned out that she ended up on a boat cruising with a loved one. My honey and I were thinking of doing the same thing instead of going fishing like the latest commercial with a bunch of guys.

And the countdown continues....

Growing up, we were never introduced to an Advent Calendar. I'm sure the rich kids living in the cities were more familiar with this. Our version was more of going to the church from the fifteenth of the month and count the days as they drew closer. Our treat would be to buy an early breakfast from the little stalls along the sidewalk hall of the church. As soon as we arrive for the early morning mass, we can't wait to have a taste of that fresh cooked/baked smell of the hall. It was like opening a small gift everyday and everytime, we get so excited. We knew what we were having but I guess it's the feeling that comes with it all, having to have an early mass and a sitdown breakfast with my siblings, that was it.

My Advent now in Real Life?

1st- it started with a grin on my honey's face.

2nd- he handed me my old Nikon that broke for quite a while (remember?) and asked if I can turn it on.

3rd- surprisingly, he got me a poinsetta last night which I usually get myself.

4th- he had another grin on his face then told me not to come downstairs till he said so.

5th- Ready! Ta-Da!!! he had the sewing machine assembled, another repair done!

Now if that is not happiness, I don't know what is? My honey is the best and have I told you that he's the best! Ok, alright. Here's sharing with you my pretty poinsetta, from our home to yours....

Have a good start to the week....



Oh the Weather Outside is......

Oh the weather outside..... gloomy, cold, light wind and looks like we're expecting showers anytime- or snow!

How's your 2nd day of December going so far? Hope all is in a very good "holiday" mode. I'm still trying to convince myself here. It's the start of my weird day off in the middle of the week because of the holiday season. Like em or live with it....So my goal for today is to get started with Christmas decorations but I have this obsession of picking all nitty gritty stuff around the living room and get it all vacuumed really well. So far I haven't accomplished any of that except to get this post out to your mailbox. This weather is not helping much neither. I prefer the snow days we had just recently and it seems to happen this way here on the island. We get a big dump before December then it's all gone so quick! Forget having a white Christmas.....So for my to do list at weather like this:

1. Vacuum the whole place before my honey gets stuck in the dungeon downstairs with his design projects;
2. Get the Christmas boxes out and start sorting them, see what forgotten treasures I have kept over the visits I made at the Thrift stores last year-- you can imagine how excited I am getting now huh;
3. Scrap the Prompt 2 of my JYC album and see if I can start another project that has been lingering in my brain since I woke at 5am this morning;
4. This one of Shimelle with these ones from Crate Paper's blog post have been on top of my list since I started cutting my papers and hope to do some for a project I've been itching to make this season. Wish me luck.....
5. Get some laundry done and maybe do some purging and get winter clothes out of their boxes.

Well, I gotta get going folks so till tomorrow. Here's a peek for my 1st page and hope to get this going.....

Ciao!

Welcome December, JYC 2010 and my Manifesto!

Happy December to all! Where did 2010 go? Was I there? Pinch me.....

So here it is.... the most awaited moment. December, the last month of the year; time for recap, to ponder, to make new goals for the upcoming year. But meanwhile, time to endure, to enjoy the moment, to finish this year off right. And because this is my 2nd year to Journal Your Christmas, this download from Shimelle can't express myself any better. She actually sent us the prompt earlier than before with additional photo prompt later in the day. And for those who haven't, you still have time to sign in. Read more about why you want to.

I scrapped my first prompt for this year too and hope to share it here tomorrow. Hope you are already having a good start to this magical holiday month and may all your Christmases be white......till tomorrow....

Winter Wonderland.....

****o****

It's a winter wonderland out there for the whole two days.....

He was there....

I was here, looking down....

Up in the air....

around the wire....

looking up....

seeing the whole picture....

observing the details....

we left....

and with joy.....

around me right now....

wrapped in white....

hanging there....

with hope and prayer.

****o****