My completed journal.

A full journal, completed this year before I even went back to work!

Roll on JYC 2019.

The End of the LIne

A photo of my brother, sister and myself on his birthday.

Its always nice to get a picture of the three of us together.

Merry and Bright

I snapped a sneaky shot of my daughter on Boxing day in this lovely jumper from M&S.  It had to be sneaky as she is not keen on having her photo taken.

I love the jumper, hope she wears it for this year's Christmas.

Almost There

The 5th of January, the penultimate page of my journal.

The gingerbread village always deserves a page!

Handmade

A record of some of the handmade items my daughter knitted as Christmas presents this year.

As she found it hard to find work after graduating, Katie decided to hand make many of her gifts as she had the time, and it would save her money.  I love this knitted bauble she made for me.

New Years Day

I used an old photo of me taken back in Edinburgh earlier this year as it looked really festive.

The place we went to for afternoon tea was decorated very early, but we really enjoyed our food in such lovely surroundings on our last day to the capital of Scotland.

New Years Eve

Plenty of photos on my New Years Eve page, so I made an extra flap to house them and my journalling.

The flap lifts up, so I could get a couple of extra pictures in, I love the one of my daughter's boyfriend in a very silly light up jumper I bought him for Christmas... because he loves penguins.🐧

The stamp is a freebie from a magazine, great for this page!

A Review of 2018

Every year in my Christmas Journal I do a review of the year in words and pictures.  The photos are edited in Photoshop with the month they were taken.

The months were stamped using the 'Calendar' stamp set by Altenew.  I also made a lot of use of the 'Review' set by Ali Edwards.

The set includes word stickers and stamps, always useful at this time of year.

One of my favourite layouts to look back on the year.

Only Us

We usually meet up for a ladies family get together before Christmas, and this year was no different.  Unfortunately, most of us couldn't make the dates we suggested, finishing just before Christmas left us very little time so only our family could make the day.

Hannah organised the afternoon, lunch, cocktails and after a walk through town, and ice-cream sundae.

Yet another lovely day out together, we have been doing this for almost 20 years now, so it would be a shame to let it slide.

A big Birthday

My father in law celebrates his birthday just after Christmas every year, as we are all off work it is great to get to see him on this day.

This year, John reached the age of 80, so we had a big family get together. 

Booked into a local hotel, all the children and grandchildren had a wonderful time, a meal in a private room and viewed a set of photos from his childhood up to today.  I used a page with a pocket in it as I needed space for ephemera, extra photos and journalling. A great day was had by all.

Christmas Time in the City

I do love looking in shop windows in the run up to Christmas; the city centre decorations and those in the independent shops all make me feel so festive!

The title come from the Andy Williams song Silver Bells, ideal for this layout!

Boxing Day

A day spent with the family at my sister's house.

Lots of photos wearing silly masks, I used a smaller page with space for a number of 2x2" photos and a little bit of journalling.

It even left me with room for the date on top of a die cut gingerbread mitten. 

My favourite pictures are those of Kevin with the Santa legs hat on, as he slept on the sofa the family gradually added more items.  It took him ages to notice and wake up!

Christmas Day

I took lots of photos on Christmas day, so there are many pages to share.

I used a variety of page sizes along with some flip up pages for additional pictures.

The catch on my oven door broke on the day, refusing to close, so a picture of the cooker appears,  Luckily, my husband and brother in law did manage to carry out a temporary repair, enough to get the turkey cooked.

I was pleased that I took photos throughout the day, from the crib in church in the morning, through the preparation of lunch, eating lunch and cocktails in the evening.

Christmas Eve

My husband's parents stayed with over the Christmas holiday this year, one of the loveliest memories I have is that they brought their stockings ready for Christmas Eve.

The 24th was a cold evening, so we lit the coal fire and they hung up their stockings ready for Father Christmas to arrive!

Birthday Boy

On my brother's birthday, we went to a local golf driving range, it was fairly quiet, but ideal for a spot of lunch.

It is rare that we have a photo of the five members of my family, so I had to include it in my journal.

Riding Home for Christmas

My brother posted a photo on Facebook on the day he travelled home for the festive holidays.

Funnily enough, the Virgin train was named after our city, ideal to bring him home!

At Last..!

The end of a very long term arrived on the 21st of December.  The prompt for the day was to take a photo of how the house was looking.  I was relaxing of the sofa in my pyjamas and slippers, the perfect subject for a 'here and now' snapshot.

Not too long to half term and another break now!

Are You Him?

My husband has had white hair and a grey beard for a long time now.  Teaching 6 year olds this year, one became convinced that he was the real Father Christmas.

On the last day of term, wearing a red shirt and beard full of glitter, I'm was not surprised!

Things to Do.

This is my page about all the things on my list to do before Christmas.  Finishing term so close to Christmas, and expecting 14 for dinner meant quite  long list!

Each task had a gem bullet point, I did manage to get everything done!

Kevin the Carrot

Aldi used Kevin the carrot and his family as part of the advertising campaign this year again.  I used a photo of the festive packaging for my page about Christmas dinner.

I left plenty of room for journalling, the title is yet another Ali Edwards stamp (these have been so useful for my journal this year).