Christmas journal #30

We were suppose to reflect back on 2005.

Script reads:

Reflections of 2005

Not much has happened in 2005, but there are a few things that made 2005 extra special for me.

• Less time working allowed me to spend more quality time on myself and with my children.
• Finding my grandmother's treasure chest of old photos allowed me to reflect on family history.

Both of these were very important for me in 2005. These helped me to work towards one of my goals for 2005, which was trying to have a better understanding of who I am and where I would like to go with my life. I can't say that I have figured everything out, not sure if that is even possible, but I have come closer this year.

I hope you have accomplished some of your goals for 2005.

Christmas journal #28

This project was to list the things that are only around at Christmastime that I enjoy.

1. Poinsettia-every year I have to get myself one of these flowers. It makes my Christmas decorations more complete.

2. Holiday music-well the only time that I find myself listening to Christmas music is at this time of the year. I enjoy listening to it very much.

3. Decorations-I cannot have a Christmas without being surrounded by holiday decorations. It makes the world around me so magical.

4. Family-it seems lately that this is the only time that I get to visit certain members of my family, and this I am grateful for.

5. Feast-who doesn't love to sit down to a delicious Christmas dinner? I know I do.

Do you think I am a bit obsessed?

So do you think I have an obsession with old family photos? Of course I do. I probably have another couple of hundred photos that my grandmother had stashed in her place down here in Florida. Many of these I have never even seen before. I never realized that my grandfather had so many photos taken of himself. Let me tell you I am grateful, because I have them to cherish now, but I never would have expected it from him. He always so quiet, I never expected him to be the one out there in front of a camera. It also appears that he had quite a playful side when he was younger also.

In these photos here though you are looking at my parents. My dad in 1965 while in the Marines. Me as a child, chunky butt wasn't I? Mom, sis and me, one of our few professional photos taken. I am assuming that my father was in Vietnam when this photo was taken also since he is not present. He was in Vietnam for three tours, when it started, in the middle and at the end, so this was probably the case here. Since this would have been in the first part of the 70's. The last picture of course is a snapshot someone took of my parents wedding.

Christmas journal #27

Christmas journal #27. Today we had to use blue with maybe some silver or gold I believe it said. Our topic today was "sleep" during the holidays. Usually not a problem for me considering I always have the holidays off. One awesome thing about my job.

Christmas journal #26

Pretty simple I know, but not much to say about my day after Christmas, since we don't celebrate boxing day here in the states. Usually what I end up doing for this day is just hit the after Christmas sales. Stocking up on Christmas supplies for the next year.

Script reads:

Believe...I truly believe that I will find great after Christmas sales. Usually for me this day is for finding great sales for next year's holiday decorations. Of course when I travel for the holidays I am not able to truly experience this day, because I tend to overpack already. No room for anything new. I did make a few new purchases this year (I couldn't resist). I just have to find a way to squeeze it in, but I do BELIEVE!

Christmas journal #25

Christmas Past

Let's take a peak at me when I was a little thing. I am the blonde sitting in front of the Christmas tree, the other one is my sister. I kept my promise with my grandmother to sort through her old photos with her. While doing so I came across this one of me when I was a child that I have never seen before. Just thought you might like a laugh.

Christmas Journal #24

Christmas journal day #24

We were suppose to write about what we like about Christmas. Of course giving presents is a huge thing for me, but I truly love relaxing to Christmas decorations and music.

Script reads:

Christmas Magic

There is something magical
about Christmas. I love being
surrounded by the decorations
and music. It makes everything
in my world beautiful
even when it isn't.

-Christmas Eve 2005-

Life isn't always perfect for me, even during the holidays, but sitting surrounded by holidays decor and listening to some beautiful Christmas music helps to make my world more colorful.

I'll pray for strength

I went over to my grandmother's house today to help her go through her old photos. Looking at my book for her made her want to look at all of her other old photos. While doing this we came across some old letters also. One of these letters was written by my father in 1980. He was telling my grandmother about a "rock-a-thon" that I was in for Girl Scouts. We were doing this to raise money for some disaster that had happened. When I say rock-a-thon, I am talking about rocking in a rocking chair. He said that I made it the entire 24 hours, but that I was so tired afterwards. He ended the story by saying that I was always the one to help someone that needed help and that he was so proud of me. I was eleven years old at the time.

Growing up my father rarely praised us, well at least not that I really can remember. I wanted to cry when I read the letter because I struggle with my relationship with my father now. He is not one to express pride towards his family members. It seems that he is one that needs acceptance from those outside of the family, whereas I care more about my family than what anyone else thinks. I would really like to have a better relationship with him. I think that maybe both of us are a bit too stubborn, and not really trying to understand the other. He has not really been around since we have been visiting in Florida, when he is home he hides in his bedroom. This bothers me, but I think that maybe he realizes that I am upset with him and doesn't really say anything to us because of that. Maybe I need to be a better person and get over it. My father is an alcoholic (not an abusive one) and major smoker his entire life. I don't think that he is a bad person, just that his values are different than mine. Who knows how long he will continue to be around, and I don't want to regret things after he is gone. I think I'll pray for strength.

Christmas Journal-Day #7

Yes, I am a bit behind here. This is my day #7 of my Christmas journal. The scanner cut off the writing along the edges. It lists some of the items that I purchased for this holiday season. Gifts: games, sleds, remote control Hummers, perfume, clothes, Dell computer, television, stereo, movies, etc.

What I didn't tell about my shopping habits is that I usually complete my shopping pretty early. I had almost all of my shopping done by Thanksgiving day. I never go out for Black Friday, that is just plain crazy. I usually hit the sales at Meijer on Thanksgiving day. I get up at 5 am to do my shopping. Most people don't go on this morning, so it isn't nearly as crazy as the other major shopping days. I don't usually shop online, but I did allow my daughter to pick out some items at Hot Topic and ordered it online. I also ordered my computer over the phone. Other than that I enjoy running out to the stores and experiencing the excitement of holiday shopping.

She LOVED it!

Here is a picture of my grandmother as she is looking at the heritage book that I made for her Christmas present this year. It was so sad, she was crying as she was looking at the pages. As she looked at each old picture she did exactly what we thought she would do. She tried to tell us exactly what was taking place at the time of the photo. Like the photo that my father said was her wedding picture was not. She explained that she was not sure but they never did take any pictures on their wedding day.

I am so happy that I decided to create this album for my grandmother. She told me that I could not know how much she appreciated the book. That it was the best present that she ever received. When I dropped her off at home, before leaving she picked the book up and looked through it again. This was the best present that I have received this year, seeing how much she enjoyed it.

UPDATE: I just got off the phone with my grandmother. She asked me if I could add any pages to her book. She wants me to come over and go through some of her old pictures with her and pick out some that she wants to include. My grandmother was a registered nurse, and I know she wants me to make a page from a picture she has of her in her nurses uniform. It really makes me happy to know that she is so pleased with it. I told her I would come over tomorrow to look through some of the pictures with her. We are also working on getting a tape for the video camera to record her. Unfortunately we didn't have one to use during Christmas. It might be a good idea to record her going through the pictures. This will refresh her memory and allow her to give details to all of the pictures.

Grandmother's book

Finally I have completed her book, just in time for Christmas. Well I still had more photos that I could have included, but I think twenty-one pages is plenty.

Script reads:

Dear Grandmother,

I tried to think what sort of presents you would like for Christmas this year. All that could come to mind was this scrapbook. I imagine that the best present you could receive during this part of your life is one that reflects back on some of the wonderful events of your lifetime.

This book was created with love for you to enjoy as often as you wish. Hopefully these pages will help open your mind to the memories of your past for you to cherish forever.

With all of our love,



Rhonda, Jason, Joey
& Rona

Merry Christmas
December 25, 2005

I was pretty rushed and didn't get to put nearly enough thought into my introduction page, but I think this will do.

I let you know how she likes it later.

Grandmother's book

Grandmother's book

Grandmother's book

Okay, it is time for the countdown. I am a bit more behind with my grandmother's book than I thought I would be. Although yesterday was a bit busy for me, which I didn't really plan on it being. I did a lot of running around for my grandmother. She had me pick up a surprise present for my mother. She always tells me how good my mother is to her, which she is. Then I took her to church for mass, then of course we stopped for dinner on the way home. My grandmother LOVES to go out to eat, and she loves it sweets. So today I am going my make some chocolate chip cookies for her to eat.

So anyways, here are three more pages for her book. I am not sure how many more I will get accomplished, but I'm sure she will enjoy however many I can get completed.

I didn't think that she was going to be spend Christmas with us here at the house. She walks with a walker so she doesn't come over because getting up the stairs is too difficult for her. I mentioned that I would bring the kids over later today when we bring her dinner, and she said, "oh, I am coming over there." She said that she was going to try her hardest to get up the stairs. She doesn't want to miss spending the holidays with me and the kids. This is so sweet considering that I know how difficult it will be for her. She figures that between me and my nephew we will be able to get her up. Too bad my sister and her kids couldn't make it, then our family would be complete for the holidays.

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year to everyone!

Grandmother's book

Christmas journal #23

Snapshots of holiday's daily living

One of the most recent prompts that I am suppose to use for my journaling class includes pictures of the messy/clean house on that day. Well since I am not home I had to just take a few pics here at my mom's house in Florida. I'll try to take a few of mine when I get home to go into my journal. The two pics that I have included are the major mess on my mom's kitchen table that I have taken over these past few days to work on the Christmas journal, and my grandmother's book. The scrapbook in the box on the center of the table is the one that I am using for my grandmother's pages. Hopefully you can find it in the mess. This photo is brutally honest about my use of a scrapbooking space. I tend to pull everything out when I decide to work on pages, when I am finished it looks like a tornado hit (well in Florida I should say a hurricane). The other picture is a picture of my mother's Christmas tree. She wasn't actually planning on putting one up this year, but since we decided to come down she put one up for us. Oh, other than that small wreath on the wall near the door, and the tree that is about it for my mom's Christmas decor.

Reflections

I thought these photos of my son, Joey, at the airport were cute. He is looking out the window at the planes, but he is so close to the window that I captured his face to face with his own reflection.

Grandmother's

My grandmother as a young woman. In my eyes my grandmother is such an incredible woman. I am so impressed with her strength. She knows what she wants, and seems to be fearless. She is 85 years old, and every day she amazes me with who she is. She has a very soft and giving side also. The woman that I hope to be would definately be a combination of the two most important women in my life, my grandmother and mother. Two awesome women, that both have qualities that I truly admire.