random reflections

Listening is an Act of Love

    I got six great books for Christmas—all nonfiction—and I can’t wait to start reading all of them.  But I have to finish Flat, Hot, and Crowded for our book group meeting on Friday. I’m finding it slower going than Friedman’s previous three books, all of which I loved. I think it’s because it’s more science than politics or history, and I clearly don’t have the same interest in science as I do in the other two. I’ll be done by Friday though.
    But I did start one new book, and I can heartily recommend it:  Listening is an Act of Love: A Celebration of American Life from the Storycorps Project. The Storycorps began in 2003 in New York City and has now expanded through mobile units across the United States. Its goal is to collect everyday stories of the lives of ordinary Americans. The stories in this collection are anything but ordinary. They are inspiring, touching, tender, funny, and sometimes sad. I’ve been reading it while I work out. It’s a perfect book for commuters, exercisers, people waiting for appointments . . . because each story is just a few pages long. It reminds me a bit of This I Believe, another collection of pieces from an NPR program that I love. I’ve read all of Volume I and have Volume 2 on my nightstand. All three books are worth your time.

Merry Christmas

I'm sure it's true for almost everyone who celebrates Christmas--no matter how early you start to prepare, the last few days end up being hectic and so very busy. Somehow there always seems to be one last gift to purchase, one last trip to the grocery store. Then there was a much needed haircut, a rehearsal for the Christmas Eve service, a trip to school for a holiday breakfast, an annual Christmas breakfast with a friend, but for once, no last minute wrapping marathon!

I saved four days to bake this year and ended up substitute teaching all four of them. I enjoyed doing it, but had to put in a long day of baking to finish all the cookies for the cookie trays we give out each year.

Sarah and Adam were supposed to arrive here on Monday night, but like so many travelers this season, they missed their connecting flight due to delays. They had to spend the night in the Newark airport and were unable to get on a stand-by flight Tuesday morning. (There were no cars available to rent.) So Tracy left early Tuesday morning to pick them up. They arrived in time for dinner Tuesday night tired but in good spirits. Thank goodness their connecting flight was New Jersey rather than Chicago or Detroit which would have been so much more difficult.

Yesterday we baked miniature mint chocolate cupcakes for today's dinner, delivered cookie trays to friends and neighbors, and attended our always beautiful 11:00 Christmas Eve Service. We've opened our gifts and stockings, and are taking some quiet time before Tracy's family arrives at 4:00 for dinner and more gift exchange. This year there will be 19 of us; everyone is here from out of town except Tracy's brother, Scott & family, who live in Arizona. 

I have completed several pages (in a rather random order) for my Christmas Journal, but decided not to upload them until I have pages in chronological order. I have notes, photos, and ideas for most days and hope to be caught up in a few days time. 

Hope you and yours are enjoying a blessed Christmas.

Yesterday's Christmas Journal Page

I'm now officially one day behind, although I do have the journaling done for today. It looks like I may be doing some substitute teaching for the next few days, so I may be even farther behind soon. I reread the Christmas journal pages from two years ago, and looked through last year's album. Sometimes I'm finding I don't have a lot more to say about a given prompt, and without kids at home, there's not necessarily something interesting enough to document. So for yesterday I decided to do a little flow chart of the wrapping process, which was actually the prompt for today. All the paper, ribbon, tags, etc. are in our basement, and there's a folding table set up for wrapping. I've never documented the process. For the first time (ever) I'm nearly done wrapping all the gifts. I think there are only two more gifts yet to arrive, so I have less than 10 to wrap. Usually I'm still wrapping on Christmas Eve day. I'm sure it's another one of the benefits of being retired. 

Design Your Life: Week 10

Another week for Elements, this time focusing on color.

The assignment was to convert the photos to black and white so you could use your favorite colors. I decided not to do that since the photos were pretty monochromatic, and using my favorite color (red) was not a problem.

I took these photos for my Christmas Journal, but decided to do a page for this album, too. It's almost a completely digital page, but I wanted a textured background paper and I added the snowflake to pick up the silver from the main photo. This green is not a color I would usually scrap!

I really "broke the rules" on this one. You were supposed to pick out four colors in your photo and use three of them to choose your papers. After I finished the layout, I found a more recent photo of the two of us with a lot more color in it. Oh, well. I like the layout, even though I didn't follow the rules.

The little scalloped edge was cut with my new paper cutter. I've been having a lot of trouble getting a straight cut from my Fiskers cutter. I think the fold-out arm is the problem, so I used a 50% coupon and bought the Purple Cow dual cutter at AC Moore yesterday. At first I wasn't too sure I would keep it, but I've used both the guillotine and the rotary cutters today, and they both seem to give straight cuts. Along with the variety of blades (and ease of changing them), I like the guidelines on the cutter and the way the paper guard literally locks the paper down to the cutter so it doesn't move. 

Christmas Journal: Day 8

I think I have completed all the Christmas cards for this year. Instead of 50-40 of the same design, there are multiple designs this year. Now to get them all in the mail. Here's today's Christmas Journal entry. I took a lot of photos of the decorations around the house. I didn't think this page needed any journaling, but I added a title to a Hambly overlay. After I took the photo, I added an 8 to the overlay for the date.

Christmas Journal: Days 6 & 7

Here are the most recent entries for the Christmas Journal. I'm not doing so well on the DYL layouts this week. One is started, but I haven't even found the photos for the other two.

Found this photo of my father reading to my brother and me in 1954!

Both these entries are based on Shimelle's prompts.

Christmas Journal: Days 3, 4, & 5

I was hardly home at all the last two days, so tonight I needed to finish up Days 3 & 4, and do Day 5. I did a little more Christmas shopping today at Eastview Mall and took some photos as I wandered (mostly at Pottery Barn which has such luscious displays).

These pages were inspired by Shimelle's prompt about Christmas cards. I've written about them in earlier journals, but never considered how my designs had changed over time. 

Another Shimelle-inspired page.

Tradition

I haven't played along with HS, MS, HS in quite some time. All the online classes and projects have taken up my creative time. But I check in every day, and this so fits into the Christmas Journal mode. Today's prompt is tradition: The passing of customs or beliefs from one generation to another.We have a lot of them, and most are sequential. Here's the first, which always happens the weekend after Thanksgiving. We've been doing it for years. 

There have been a few years when it was pouring rain that we decided to buy a tree already cut, but they have been few and far between. Tramping around the tree farm searching for the "perfect" tree (even in the cold and snow) is a family pleasure. Even as adults, if the kids are home, they come to help and add their words of advice. This year there was no snow, and we tried a new tree farm. I think we found the perfect tree this year, but we have some pretty amusing stories of trees that didn't turn out quite so perfectly when we got them home and set up. You can see the undecorated tree in our living room in the post below.

Christmas Journal: Day 2

I decided I didn't much care for the photo of our tree on the first page of my journal, so I took a better one today and replaced it.

Here's today's page. Shimelle's prompt was to write about the weather, and I had more to say than I expected!

What Is a Journey?

Keri Bradford has the most amazing YouTube video of a Louis Vuitton commercial on her site this morning. I am rarely impressed with a commercial, but this one is wonderful. Go watch it!

Here are the words from it:

What is a journey?
A journey is not a trip.
It’s not a vacation.
It’s a process. A discovery.
It’s a process of self-discovery.
A journey brings us face to face with ourselves.
A journey shows us not only the world,
  but how we fit in it.
Does the person create the journey
  or does the journey create the person?
The journey is life itself.
Where will life take you?