Grandpa and I attended church services this morning, then came home and ate lunch.  It's been a lazy Sunday afternoon, just right for scrapping! 

I loved the elements in the Kit "ONE" from Digi-licious Designs so I decided to make another birthday page for Drew.  He was darling!!  And Hopie had such a good time too.  She loves helping her little brother open presents, and she loved helping him share his new goodies too!!  :) 

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!  Just one day late!! 
We've had such a blessed Christmas.  We spent Christmas Eve with Chuck's family.  Gina made a great dinner to start out, and then everybody opened presents.  The kids were so pleased to receive a wii from mom and dad!!  After we were finished, opening presents, we shared dessert, then grandpa and I on headed home. 

Christmas day we talked to all the rest of the grandchildren with the assistance of SKYPE!!  By the sound of all the presents they received, the economy in the U.S should be on an upswing very soon!!  In the afternoon, Grandpa and I visited our friends home for dinner.  By the time we were finished, I was feeling much like the turkey we had! --STUFFED!! 

Saturday has been a very relaxed day!  Grandpa has his train running under the tree and another one running under the television.  He's tried to get his Lionel Heliport working better, but apparently it has a mind of its own! 

I do have a layout to share.  I used a new kit from Digi-licious called "ONE"   It was perfect for one of the photos from Drew's first birthday this month!  He was so cute sitting in that box!!

Oh my poor little forgotten blog!!  I've been preparing for Christmas, and just haven't had time to post.  Will try and do better in the New Year.  I have several layouts to share that I've completed since my last post!  I'm still working on my Christmas album.  It's been a lot of fun to revive old memories.  My first layout to share is about wrapping the presents!  :)

The journaling says:  We took one day and wrapped all the gifts. We use the old knife to cut the paper. The knife was a wedding gift to my mother so many years ago. Wrapping with any other knife just wouldn't seem the same. 

I think my mom and dad were married in 1939, so that knife is OLD OLD OLD--even older than the hills!  (My maiden name was Hill!)

The next layout was inspired by a challenge at 2 peas.  It was for the Flashback Friday challenge to scrap a favorite Holiday movie or a tv show.  My choice of show wasn't a problem, but finding images was!  I resorted to the Internet and googled the title, then looked for images.  I love the results!

The journaling says:  Oh my gosh. When I was a little girl I loved to sing about the famous red-nosed reindeer! I loved it so much, in fact, that I sang it at a Mother's Day dinner at my Aunt's church--I was probably about 3 years old then! I've heard that everybody thought I was darling, but I can imagine that my poor mother was probably embarrassed by my festive solo! The Internet says the movie debuted in 1964--which was the year I married! We didn't have any little ones until the following Christmas, but I'm sure we watched it even without little ones (After-all, we watch it NOW without little ones!) I remember watching it with my own little guys when they were small--and when they weren't so small. So many of our happy memories surround the Christmas season. Now it's so much fun sharing those memories with the next generation. The grandchildren have the same magic look in their eyes as my children did when they watch Rudolph!

I used a freebie blog template and a kit from BellaGypsy called Jolly Old Elf for this layout!

The next one has no journaling!!  :)

It's just an up to date photo of the three of us!!  Have I told you how much I love this time of the year (I'm sure I have!).  I have to watch it though!  It's so easy to get caught up in all the preparations and forget the Reason for the season, and NO, it's NOT the Winter Solstice!  I heard that on the TV the other day and it just made me sad that some people actually believe THAT is the REASON!  I'm sad for their choice for their eternity.  And yes, there IS an eternity.  It's up to each of us to CHOOSE where we spend that eternity.  I hope you've all chosen the right path. Enjoy the season, but remember the REASON!  :)

It's been a few days since I've had time to update!  I have a few layouts to share tonight. 
The first one came about because of the Flashback Friday challenges on the pub at 2 peas.  One of the posters challenged us to do a layout about what we wanted to be when we were a child.  So, of course, I journaled my story about becoming a nurse.
The journaling on the layout says:  I can't remember a time when that "want" wasn't there. That "need" to be helpful to someone, that empathy always burned in my insides, that deep wanting to fix everybody.

I remember trying to help my great aunt Soak her feet when they were sore. I used to fix tea for my grandma when she wasn't feeling well. I helped wrap my grandma's legs with elastic bandages when her varicose veins were bothering her. I always tried to make everybody feel better.

My nursing plans were delayed a long time. I chose marriage and motherhood over college and career out of high school, but as I approached my 40th birthday I realized I still needed to fulfill that other "need" I attended college and finally graduated with a Bachelor of Science in nursing!

I used kits called Stitches 5 by Twinky, Flower stitches by Christine Mortimer, paper by Hero Arts, (extra spring).

My second layout will be part of my Christmas album of memories.  The journaling says:

 Over the years we've collected many ornaments made by our children and grandchildren. Many of these ornaments were made as school or Indian Maiden projects. Some of them have photos of the artist on them. Some only have the artist's name. This, for some reason, has become a matter of contention between my children. We have several ornaments with Becky's picture on them. Several years ago Debbie started the tradition of hiding the nut. (one of the ornaments is a nut with Becky's face on it. This year the contest took on a new dimension. Debbie offered to pay Amy 100.00 if she hid the ornament so we couldn't find it. But I saved the day. The nut is safely on the tree!

(by the way, the "contention" is all in good humor). I used 25 days of Christmas template (Manipulated), very boyish kit by Bella Gypsy, paper arrows kit by Khadfiel.

The third layout is another one about ornaments.  Ones that mean a lot to us or have some other important significance.  The journaling says:

Most of our ornaments hold a special memory or have some other significance. Take for instance, the top
heart.  Hannah and Adam made that ornament for us that year.  The next ornament represents the Christmas
we spent with Debbie’s family in San Diego.  The next photo shows two ornaments.  One represents our dog
Ashlee, who is no longer with us, and the little dog ornament looks exactly like our dog Molly!  Such great pals.  The next two ornaments are new to us this year.  We bought them at an Estate sale in our neighborhood.  The lady loved Christmas, and hand made many of her own ornaments.  We gave these a new home. The little red ornament is one Becky made for us out of dough.  And the last ornament represents Earl’s love for his trains.  Each of these ornaments generate their own special memories. As we swiftly march towards Christmas day, may the Real joy of Christmas ring in your hearts.  May you be warmed by sweet memories of the past, and may you make new memories to cherish in the years to come.  May God bless you and yours during this sacred season.

Hannah came and played in the scrapbook room today.  She wanted to make some Christmas cards, so that is what we did!  She ended up with about 8 of them for her friends.  We had a good visit.  My job was to find the stuff she wanted to use.  Since I've been digi-scrapping for a few months now, it was a challenge to find some of the things I haven't seen around for that long!  But we did it--She did a good job with her cards.

Besides helping her find the tools of the trade, I also had enough time to finish up a layout I began yesterday.  Eventually it will go somewhere in my Christmas album for 2009--even though the photos are from Christmas' past.  All those Christmas memories, from all the previous years add to the whole wonderful warm feelings of Christmas in my heart.  I think Adam was about three or four and Megan was also about three.  Wasn't Adam  the cutest little cowboy!

I forgot to keep track of what I used, but I know the template was a blog freebie!  Thanks for looking!  

This year I've decided to make a Christmas Album starting now.   I'm starting the album out with the page I'm sharing today.  Christmas is such a wonderful time of the year I can hardly wait to get going on the album.

I was challenged to use a list for journaling for this layout.  I used the same kit from Michelle Underwood!  I think I love it!  :)  The pictures is from last year when we had our BIG snowstorm!  I was staying with the kids at their house because Chuck and Gina went to be with Andrew's biological mother while she gave birth to him.  They got stranded by the storm, and I got to play in the snow with the kids.  I had a glorious time, and we readied everything for Andrew's arrival at home! 

I must be excited for Christmas or something!  I was challenged to do a layout about a past Christmas, and decided to do one on our First Christmas together!  It rekindled a lot of great memories in the process.  I remember our first Christmas tree.  It fit nicely into the corner of our small living room.  It was pretty barren, even though my Mother had been generous with decorations from our family tree.  We bought one box of new ornaments to supplement the others, but it still looked pretty bare!  We loved it anyhow.  It was fun to cuddle on the couch with only the soft glow from the lights on the tree to illuminate the small space.

We spent Christmas Eve with my family, Christmas morning at our own home, and Christmas afternoon in Flint at the Staley family home.  This worked out perfectly.  We were both warmly embraced by both families.  It was a magic time in our lives.  A life that was full of love and adventure.  We were young and in love.  Now we're a bit older, but still in love.  We've enjoyed many Christmas' since that 1964 "first."  God has been so faithful to bless us richly.

I used Michelle Underwood's Vintage Holiday Memories kit from 2 peas and a freebie blog template for this layout.

We are watching Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, and I remembered I have a layout to share.  I made it for the Scrapsketch.com site, and couldn't post it when I finished it up, then forgot all about it!  Like I said the last post, I love this time of the year, and it is never too early to start posting Christmas layouts!  These photos were from a couple of years ago, and the girls have really grown a lot since then. 

I'm taking a couple of online Christmas classes, so I'm going to be a busy lady for a few weeks!  Have a wonderful season!