December Daily 2012 - Day 1

I woke up so happy yesterday knowing it was finally December 1st.  The first day of many happy ones as we approach the 25th.

I spent some time last night thinking about what I wanted to include in my book this year.  There are certain things I love to include but I wanted to think about some other stories that I might be missing out on.

Here is a list of some of the things that have been constants in my December Daily albums;

1. Documenting cooking and baking seasonal treats
2. Our Christmas card and the stuffing and mailing of them
3. Buying our Christmas Tree
4. Decorating our Christmas Tree
5. Around the house shots
6. Shopping for gifts and the saving of the receipts
7. Simone's gifts and the wrapping paper (I pick one just for her each year)
8. a visit with Santa
9. Simone's birthday
10. Favorite Shows/Movies/TV Specials
11. Starbucks and their yearly cup design
12. Making a Gingerbread house
13. Simone's school pageant.
14. Holiday lights
15. our Ornament Exchange party

Here is a list of some new things I'd like to add;

1. A letter from me to Simone
2. Simone's letter to Santa, she's just about ready to get something down on paper
3. A self portrait
4. a playlist of favorite Christmas songs
5. Polar Express Train ride (were going this year)
6. Simone's wishlist
7. My wishlist
8. Photos of new items we added to Simone's stocking
9. Our Christmas Card photo shot

Some will make it and some won't and who knows, maybe I'll come up with some other new stuff to include but I'm pretty happy with my list of things to add so far.

One thing that I try to remember when I do this project is to not stress, if a story doesn't work on the day it happens, its okay to put it in on another day.  Only you will know and know one will care!

Now on to today's post, here is a look at the two pages and the insert that sits between;

We received this Mickey advent calendar in 2010 as a gift from my sister in law.  She bought it for us when we were in Disneyland that Christmas for Simone's birthday.  I kind of love that as the years go on, we will see Simone grow in relation to it, so it's kind of hard to break tradition and do something different on day one.  And come on how cute are those froggie footie jammies that Grandma T gave to Simone!

I simply cropped the photo to the size I needed and added the white box for an accent.  I used one of the vellum numbers from the Crate Paper Sleigh ride collection and used a stamp from Kelly's kit on a bit of green paper.  I attached it all directly to the photo with my tiny attacher.

On the right side, I decided to write a little something for Simone, My Christmas Wish for her.  Just a few things that I want her to remember down the road, and a few things I hope she never looses inside of her now.  This slot it all digital and I used a piece of paper that I purchased from Rhonna Farrer, I added a few peppermint candy cut outs that are from a few years ago, looks like they are from Reminisce, not sure if you can still find them.  I also added a little strip of bling.  I kept it very simple.

Some spreads will be simple like this and some will be more elaborate.  It's really about what your feeling at the time and how much time you have to spend. 

I hope your day one went well too!