Last year I did my first December Daily album.  December Daily is a term Ali Edwards uses to describe a scrapbooking photo documenting method for the month of December.  I didn’t do it sooner because I was doing Project Life (a documenting method by Becky Higgins) and Project Life takes a lot of time.  Once I slowed down the Project Life by not documenting daily or weekly or even monthly, but just special occasions, I was able to put more time into December Daily.

I happen to really enjoy December Daily and I do take a photo or more a day and scrap it.  Last year, my album went into 2 6×8 albums because I was taking a lot more photos than I had anticipated.  I didn’t want to put any December photos in my Project Life album because I felt that having two places with December photos was redundant.   I was okay with that but this year, I just really want one 6×8 December Daily album.  I know I will take a ton more but I’ll put them in my Project Life album.  It might be redundant but I’m treating December Daily more as an art and photo documenting album.  It contains photos, embellishments, paints, and digital prints.  My Project Life is pretty much photos and journaling cards.  I’ve also gone mostly digital with Project Life which means no art in it.

Here are my supplies for this year’s December Daily:

Products I’m using:  6×8 2-ring binder by Becky Higgins, 6×8 sleeves by Simple Stories, Snow and Cocoa 12×12 paper by Crate Paper, Illustrated Faith Christmas ephemera, 6×8 paper pads and stickers, and Wilna Furstenberg’s Artventure December elements. I’m also using clear plastic craft paper, watercolor paints, acrylic paints, gesso, matte medium, stamps and inks, writing tools, washi, and various other products.

What was supposed to be a super simple and quick December Daily has once again turned into a time consuming art piece.  I’m just going to accept this.

Here are some photos of December Daily 2015.  I’m only showing a few pieces just so you have an idea of my style and what I like doing.

Again, I added way to many photos and ended up having to use 2 albums.  I’m still not done with the album.  I stopped at day 25 so another goal is to finish up the album.

I once did a 30 days of Christmas where I gave my girls an envelope with a surprise note.  After a couple of years, it was just too much, so I cut it to just 25 days for last year.  But, that was still too much so this year, I’m doing weekly, 5 envelopes – one for each week in December.

Remember all the craze about the Starbucks plain red cups?  I didn’t mind at all.  I just love going there and being served expensive coffee just because.  There was one night when my daughter and I got coffee and returned to the dance studio and we saw a deer that had been hit.  I explain it below in the words.  It was pretty sad.

That year, we got a tree from Costco.  We couldn’t tell how big the tree would be so when we unwrapped it, it was this giant thing.  It took up all the room in the living room.  We didn’t have enough Christmas lights to go around the tree so husband had to buy a couple more strings.

The studio where the girls dance is near an old town.  I’ve seen the lights before just driving by.  One day I thought to go see it close up so we dropped off one daughter at the dance studio and husband and our other daughter went to look at the lights.  It was breathtaking.

Those reindeers were done using a stamp pad and thumbs.  It was one of the surprise envelopes the girls had to do.

Had the girls take selfies.  LOL.  I love looking at them.  The page next to it was made to remember a friend’s funeral I went to.  It was a very sad day and so heartbreaking.  The girl that passed away was only 22 years old.  She was a student in my Catechism class when she was in 8th grade.  One day after mass a few years later, she came up to me and said, “Thank you for inspiring me.”  She said a few other kind words but those were the words that really stuck with me.  My intention (aside from learning the words of God) was to just help the students move in the right direction in life, to dream, and never give up, and so when she said those words to me, I felt humbled.  It’s rare for people to thank each other and to really appreciate them being a part of our life even if it’s for only a few minutes.  I think we need to do that more often, even myself.  Life and death will always be a mystery but while we exist, I think it doesn’t hurt to keep in check and remind ourselves how very precious life is.

Husband and I went to see “The Letters.”  It was a great movie.  Mother Theresa was one courageous and intelligent woman.

Last month was the first time I flipped through the 2015 December Daily since I made it and I didn’t realize how emotional I’d get flipping through the pages.  This was why I decided to keep going with December Daily.  I love the stories and seeing all the photos.