In the Storm

December Daily 2016 | Day 12

There were so many people on the last night of the Journey that Jeff and the boys didn't get home until after midnight. It was a crazy, wild, exhausting 10 days of serving at the Journey. I snagged all of these photos, taken by the Photography ministry, and from our church's Facebook page. I didn't get to SEE the Journey this year (because I was serving too, or sick) but I've never recorded this interactive, outdoor, moving production that requires over 1000 volunteers each night and wanted to document it. Because, it is such a big part of our life for 10 solid days and even more because of all the work Jeff and the boys put in the months leading up to the Journey as they are a part of the Journey build team.

The scenes cover the three magi, Mary and the Angel, Mary and Joseph, Joseph and the Angel, Mary and Elizabeth, Herod and his palace, Bethlehem and the marketplace, the Shepherds and the Angel, and the Manger scene. One of our pastor's greet the travelers at the Manger. It's just fantastic - the Christmas story told live as you travel to Bethlehem.

December Daily 2016 | Day 11

It was a chilly night when we visited the Coastal Georgia Botanical Gardens December Nights and Christmas Lights beautiful display put on by the University of Georgia. Perfect night for a date night, too. We ate at Hao Mongolian for some yummy Mongolian BBQ, one of our go-to places to eat dinner, then we headed out to the Bamboo Farm off of Hwy 17. I'd seen some pictures on Facebook from various friends but, even still, I had no idea what was in store for our viewing pleasure.

Simply beautiful. Their creativity - masterful. The display of Christmas lights were everywhere, all over the property. We walked amazed!

While I loved the colored trees, one of my favorites, and adored the manger scene of white and blue lights, I adored the herd of deer in the Bamboo trees the best. Jeff's favorite, hands-down was the orchard of oranges and the vines of grapes and berries. Like I said, masterful- magical, and clever.

The single drawback to the entire night: as we were walking, my hip(s) swelled and walking became excruciatingly difficult, to the point of shuffling my feet, even. Rheumatoid Arthritis, the primary culprit, is for the birds! 

 

December Daily 2016 | Day 10

Playing Santa - and Santa's elves.  I hand-tied two warm, snugly, very long pieces of cream, and blue and cream, anti-pill fleece fabric together to make one throw blanket for one blessed member of our small group. We are having a Small Group white elephant Christmas party and so many people actually try to bring a white elephant but I wanted to bring a really cool gift, something someone can and will actually use.

The page is 6 x 8, of course, and I used a new designer I've found recently, Sahin Designs for all the embellishments and the sweet little 3 x 4 journal card, MERRY.

December Daily 2016 | Day 9

Day 9 - Simple page with a longer story using an Ali Edwards template

currently & December Daily | Day 8

woefully battling various painful aches: toothaches, thankfully not continuous, but life-debilitating and needing a couple teeth extracted - yuk; back pain that translates to hip and leg and makes walking difficult.

reading The Broken Way by Ann Voskamp - oh my! I am also reading Voskamp's The Greatest Gift for my Advent devotional - beautiful. I'm also reading Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingslover and - yeah - The Christmas Carol.

watching Blue Bloods Season 6 with Jeff; and new-to-me, The West Wing - both very good. The Blacklist Season 3 and Castle Season 7

scrapping my December Daily album. It is all digital and while I'm not staying on track and keeping up I'm not far behind either.

served in The Journey - our church's amazing interactive, outdoor, Christmas production. A production that requires over 1000 volunteers on any given night. For two- 5 day stretches we tell the Christmas story to Bethlehem. I worked at the Special Needs table checking in those who need to ride in golf carts who can not make the 1-1/2 hour journey to Bethlehem on foot. It has been a pleasure. Jeff was Roman cavalry, dressed in Roman centurion garb and riding a very big horse. John and Jarrod were Roman centurion's scattered throughout Bethlehem.

anticipating our small groups Christmas party and White Elephant exchange. My gift will definitely NOT be the white elephant. I am hand-making a tie-blanket with fabric Jeff and I picked up from Joann's fabric store.

needing to finish Christmas decorating and planning my cookie making schedule. Speaking of cookies...

longing for Cherry Walnut Bars, Pecan Tassie's, Butterscotch Brownies, and Brownies in a Jiffy - for just a few.

wearing soft, warm, fuzzy socks at home pretty much everyday.

listening to my grandson Ian talk to me on FaceTime. I love talking to this boy. Ashley calls or texts just so I know Ian is thinking about me.

loving our fake tree. With our life changing, not good, not bad, just different Jeff and I thought, rather than get a real tree and have to take care of a live tree throughout the season we'd start a new thing and order a fake tree - for simplicity, for ease. I love it!

eating M&M peanuts and other yummy candy since I put out my three-tiered-size snowmen and polar bear Christmas bowls.

For Day 8 of my December Daily album I included a taste of my Currents for December. Because I document present participles each month of the year, what is currently happening in our/my life, it was only fitting to include it in my DD album. I kept it very simple using all Paislee Press products to tell the story. 

December Daily 2016 | Day 6

I love, love, love how this 2-page, 6 x 8 spread of December Daily 2016 Day 6 turned out. That being said, I realized nowhere on either page does it say it is day 6. Oops!

By no means did I include all of my favorite Christmas songs and playlist. I also have found over the years some songs that I come back to again and again that I love by specific artists. That is what I've included with the few on the left side and a smattering of album covers on the right side. Christmas album covers can be so pretty, like Peter Hollens' and Travis Cottrell's.

A very simple page. I used Microsoft Sans Serif and Master of Break fonts. Pretty. The background paper is actually a 3 x 4 journal card by 

Super easy page: I used a template by Ali Edwards, added album covers I downloaded from the internet and added embellishments by Anita Designs, Sahin Designs, and Ali Edwards Design.

 

December Daily 2016 | Day 5

This one is all about the story.

Ian doesn't live here but he is just as much a part of our December stories as the four of us living under this roof. 

I've put this story in my December Daily because I wanted it recorded. Shared. Remembered.

These pages went together quick: I used an Ali Edwards December Daily 2014 overlay, a cut-up AE Jasmine Jones December Daily Journal Card and One Little Bird Designs sticker.

I used that beautiful AE JJ December Daily journal card (enlarged) to accommodate the 6 x 8 page and the font Type Right.

And the story.

December Daily 2016 | Day 4

Today's 2-page, 6 x 8 spread is all about Jeff (and John and Jarrod) as Roman Centurions for our church's huge interactive, outdoor Christmas production where more than 1000 volunteers are needed each of the 10 nights.

My husband, Jeff, gets giddy with anticipation at serving in the Journey and heading back into Roman Centurion uniform (both he and my sons love it so much they've purchased their own armor, helmet, guards, and sword) and getting back on any one of the Percheron horses on loan for the production. He loves being a part of the story on the road to Bethlehem and to a baby in the manger - Jesus.

Jeff loves riding these horses. He's their nanny during the Journey as their owners only trust Jeff with their livelihood - the horses. 

Both of my sons joined my husband serving as Roman Centurions in this years Journey. Our boys aren't riding the horses but they are in the Bethlehem city marketplace. They, all three of them, helped build pieces of the city where much of the Journey takes place. It's just an amazing time for them. One they'll always remember.

December Daily 2016 | Day 3

It was a good day.

It was a painful day.

 

Even through the pain we could celebrate the season.

Jeff went alone to his company Christmas party. The company held their party on the Savannah River Queen - a floating restaurant. He had a really good time. He is well liked within his company so going was a nice change of busy pace.

I stayed home because my mouth was in pain. It began earlier in the day and didn't let up until after he left for the party. Up until then we'd had a good morning. Jeff and I shared a hearty breakfast and I read this days advent reading from The Greatest Gift by Ann Voskamp. 

For the left half of the two-page 6 x 8 spread I kept it seriously simple and used a Paislee Press template. I did enlarge the photo and word art to fill more of the white space (as white space is difficult for me to handle).

I'm thrilled with the right side of the pages, using mostly One Little Bird journal cards and an AE Merry and Bright stamp and a photo of the River Queen (as he was departing).

December Daily 2016 | Day 2

Realized very quickly that keeping my December Daily album simple was going to be the way to go. We have begun our church's big production and all of us are serving in some capacity which means through the 11th our evenings will not be our own and to even keep up with this project I'll need to keep it simple. I'm good with this and relieved as well, because I struggle with embellishment placement - and rather than stress over my limited design skills I'll just highlight the stories and the photos.

I really love Ali Edwards' days of December overlays and will probably use quite a few of them for this project. With a few pieces of word art/brushes/stamps and an older piece of Christmas paper by Ali I completed the left side of a two-page spread.

I used an Ali Edwards template for the right side. For the journal card I was modifying, in PSE, the background color from black to the reddish color and usually I just individually fill in all the areas that were missed from the initial change but when I looked at again I thought I liked the look of the black specks within the letters and the red background so I left it.