Home for the Holidays (+ Family Jeopardy)

My family and I headed to  Southern California for Christmas to spend time with our extended families.  My brother (above) lives in the house he inherited from our parents, where we all grew up.  We had a wonderful time visiting with each other, eating and exchanging presents.  Our dog Gypsy even got to play with her dog-cousin Patches.

The game of "Family Jeopardy," which I put together using this tutorial from Carrie and a fantastic template from the very generous Deb (thanks Deb!), was a definite highlight of Christmas Day. Our  categories included "Pete or Carmen" (those were my parents); zodiac signs; May birthdays (there are six in our family); college/university (places we attended); high school days (significant events that happened during H.S.); significant years; the next generation  (questions about the grandchildren generation); pets (that was a popular one); this and that; and favorite sports teams.  I had people draw numbers, and they played in teams of two. This worked out well for us.  And the winners were my sister-in-law and my niece:

We also fit in a movie outing (Mission Impossible), a trip to play Lazer Tag (surprisingly fun and perfect for a big group), and a shopping trip to spend gift cards.  All-in-all, it was a very full and fun visit "home." 
I put "Home" in quotes because, although I spent the first 17 years of my life in this house and all my brothers and sisters live nearby, at some point, I really began to think of the house where we live now as our "home."  Perhaps because we've lived in our house for about 20 years and have raised our family there. Or because we have set down roots in the community and really feel like it's where we belong. I'm sure my kids consider it (and not my parents' old house) their "home." 
But I wonder, 25 years from now, will they still consider it "home?" Or will they have created a new "home" someplace else?

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas from my family

to you and yours!  I treasure each of my readers and blog friends, and I wish you all a wonderful Christmas Eve and Christmas Day!

Christmas Around My House

We decorated our tree.

Went with the family to San Francisco to check out the downtown window displays, have lunch and do a little shopping.

Went to Christmas tea with some friends.

And went to a gingerbread house decorating party.  Tomorrow we'll leave bright and early to spend the weekend with our families.  I put together a "Family Jeopardy" game, thanks to this fantastic tutorial from Carrie.  I think it will be tons of fun.
Hope your holiday is shaping up well!

A Visit to the Tree Farm

We took our annual trip to the tree farm to cut our tree.  Although there were some happy moments to be had by the family:

There was also a lot of teen attitude (Henry had a cold and Clara really wanted to stay home):

It was a far cry from last year, as described in this post and pictured here:

But I trust that, in time, they will remember it fondly. And I hope that someday they will bring their kids to the same tree farm and tell them about all the fun they had coming. Because that's how traditions start, I think.

Christmas Cards from My Stash.

I'm finally getting a break from work and have been getting in the Christmas spirit.  I am thankful and excited about all the Christmas cards I have been receiving from all over the world! That's just one of the fun benefits of blogging, I think.

Each year, I send out two groups of Christmas cards.  My talented, crafty friends who I know appreciate a handmade card get one of those.  My noncrafty (but still wonderful) family and friends receive a photocard. I ordered my photo Christmas cards yesterday, and they should arrive by the end of the week. I also started addressing handmade cards for my crafty friends.  And then I realized I didn't have enough!

I had been saving this post from the Counterfeit Kit Challenge blog about using your stash because I thought it would be a fun thing to do when I got a bit more time.  So, I reviewed and started to go through my stash to find some things to make another dozen or so cards.  And I had so much fun!

Most of these cards combined a variety of embellishments in my Christmas stash, including patterned paper, stickers, tags, paper piecings, felt fusion, etc. It was totally fun to mix and match things. I hope the recipients like their cards. How are you coming on sending and receiving cards?

Class Review: 12 Days of Christmas 2011 (Cheryl Johnson)

I just completed Cheryl Johnson's photography class "12 Days of Christmas 2011," and I would say it was a winner! CJ offers this class free each year to a large (but limited) group of students. If you get the chance to sign up for it next year, I would definitely say that it's worth your time.  
CJ sends a new photography prompt each day from Dec. 1 - Dec. 12. The prompts are a nice combination of technical prompts (setting white balance, creating bokeh, shooting lights at night) and composition challenges (self-portrait, groups, outdoor pictures, etc.). There's a forum and (new this year) a facebook group.  The forum was not overly crowded, so it was easy to examine each photograph that was posted (about 40 per prompt).  A lot of the posted work was really inspiring, and I got lots of good ideas from the perusing the images there. Classmates were pretty good about commenting - most of my photos received feedback from 5-10 people. CJ patrolled the forum to answer any questions but didn't really offer much feedback on the images posted during the course. (Although it's possible she may add comments next week.)
Like most online classes, you get out of it what you put into it.  I only completed 9 of the 12 challenges (I skipped a photoshop tutorial, a group portrait exercise and one on writing with light). But those nine prompts taught me a lot! I now really know how to use the white balance setting on my camera, and I learned how to take beautiful night pictures (like the one at the top of today's post; please click on it to enlarge and enjoy the details). As a result of this class, I have already taken some beautiful holiday pictures, and I know that the photographs I take during the rest of the month will be better because of what I learned during these twelve days! Overall grade: B+
Anyone else have thoughts on this class? How are your December classes going so far?

Class Review: Journal Your Christmas 2010

I stole some time this morning to sit down and finish my "Journal Your Christmas" album for the Shimelle class of the same name. And I'm really glad I did.  Partly because I knew that if I didn't finish it soon, it might not get done until next December.  But also because it gave me a chance to sit back and revisit the holiday season. And that's one of the best things about this class.

I like the way the class forces me to be mindful of the holidays as they are happening.  By checking the Shimelle prompt and thinking about whether I want to document what she has suggested or go in my own direction, I stop and ponder the day, the season and my current life.  You can see the basic format of my album above (my manifesto page) and below:

My album pages were all about 3.5"x6".  For each day, I took a hipstamatic photo on my iphone, which I printed out at scrapbookpictures.com at 3"x3".  I added a strip of patterned paper for balance. On the right hand side, each page had a 3"x5" journaling block, a strip of patterned paper and an embellishment.  I found this format very easy to work with.  The only downside was not being able to assemble the whole thing until I ordered and received my pictures. Another great thing about this class is how flexible it is; there are limitless ways to create a JYC project, and none are "wrong."  This is the third time I've completed the class, and each of my projects have been very different (the first was an art journal in a box; the second, a book featuring Tim Holtz tags).  More importantly, I've learned or realized different lessons each time I've taken the class:

This is the final entry in my album.  Shimelle's last prompt encourages you to reflect on the holiday season and what you learned from doing JYC.  I had a bit of an epiphany when I was putting this page together - we spent a lot of time together as a family in December 2010 . . . doing Christmas stuff, but also all the other stuff that makes up life (basketball, soccer, homework, etc.).  We also spent significant time with extended family.  This felt different than other Decembers, and it was good.  And I probably would not have realized it without doing the JYC Project.  So, thank-you Shimelle, for another great class!
The basics:  The class runs from Dec. 1 - Jan 6 with 37 daily prompts (each one different) about journaling your Christmas. New for this year were additional "In Focus" prompts, which featured tips for photography, as well as a few photography challenges if you needed help trying to decide what to photograph.  I LOVED these!!!  They are things I will return to throughout the year.  I especially loved her last "in focus" prompt with suggestions for setting photography goals for the year. There's a forum where people share pages, questions and ideas.  Like many classes, it was much more active during the first part of the class than the latter, but I always found it helpful.  The class this year was smaller than last year's, which I think was a good thing because it was easier to follow along. Although Shimelle uses the same basic prompts each year, this year she updated them with her current pages and pictures/ ideas that others shared last year.  Shimelle's classes are always ridiculously cheap.  This one was 22 pounds (about $25 U.S.) and once you buy it once, you get to take it every year for free!  I give the class an  A+. What about you?  Different views always welcome.

JYC Final Entries (2/2 today)

On our last day in Southern California, we went to Pasadena and helped decorate a float for the the Tournament of Roses Parade.  Here's the picture I'll use for my JYC:

My brother, sister-in-law and sister all went to Cal Poly State University and work there now.  The University enters a float in the Rose Parade every year, and we went to go work on it with my niece's girl scourt troop. The Cal Poly float has a Galactic theme. After working a bit "fluffing" flowers, we spent time washing buckets and assembling vials.  Not as glamorous as I had imagined it was going to be, but it gave me a big appreciation for all the work that goes into the floats. Here are some other pictures of the day:

Afterwards, we went to lunch at a Chinese Restaurant called Panda Inn.  Henry loves a fast-food franchise for Chinese food called Panda Express.  When he learned that it began as a regular sit-down restaurant in Pasadena (Southern California), he became quite intent on going there.  He was very pleased to hear we made reservations to go after working on the float.

We will definitely carry special memories of this day!

Tomorrow we head home to Northern California.  I'll be glad to take down Christmas decorations and finish up my JYC.  I'm ready to start looking forward to new projects.

I thought I'd use a photo of myself for the last page of my JYC.  This was taken on BART on the day we went into the City to look at the store windows. 
I will also use this photo for a post about winding up the holidays and looking forward to the New Year:

Are you feeling "done" with Christmas and ready to move on to 2011, too?

ETA: We arrived home safe and sound today, and I'm actually quite happy that the Christmas decorations are still up.  We'll probably leave them up for a few more days.  I ordered all my hipstamatic pictures yesterday through Scrapbook Pictures (in the U.S.).  It was very easy to do.  We'll see how they turn out.

JYC Holiday Edition (1/2 posts for today)

I hope you're not too bored of my JYC.  I've been taking pictures along the way and want to get them organized and journaled here on my blog so I can move them to my journal soon. I promise some real art next week.  In the meantime, Christmas morning arrived:

Santa brought the kids nice electronics - an ipod touch for the girl and an xbox 360 for the boy. We also got them clothes and a stocking full of the practical (hair accessories for the girl; car accessories for the boy; a toothbrush; etc.) and the fun (a DVD for each, Uno for the boy and a stuffed horse for the girl). Santa brought two board games for the adults. Blokus, which was a great find, and Funglish, which we haven't played yet.  The rest of the family arrived around 11:00, and we spent the day playing Dance, Dance Revolution on the Wii and cooking a huge meal.
Boxing day will have two pages.  The first:

A new tradition for us is to go as a group to play lazer tag.  It feels a little odd to celebrate the holiday by running around and shooting at each other, but we all have a great time doing it! Henry seems to dominate the proceedings, but it doesn't matter that much, as we all feel like winners after having so much fun together as a group.
And then we were off to see Paul's family again:

Paul's dad's birthday is December 27, and we'll often get together with his family to celebrate it.  He turned 81 this year, and he's doing great.  Helen makes him a homemade chocolate cake, as he has quite a sweet tooth and loves chocolate in particular.  I love this shot of Helen lighting the candles.
On our last day in Southern California, we're going on one more very special outing.  Look for a post about it tomorrow as well as some final pictures and thoughts on JYC to finish up the project! Are you done with your December album/JYC yet?
ETA: Okay, I've gotten so bored with my posts about this project that I'm going to go ahead and do a rare double-post, so that I get all my JYC posts up on my blog where I can grab the journaling and transfer to my album.

Journaling My Christmas (pre-Holiday Edition)

This post is mainly a reminder for me of the pages I plan to put in my JYC album, so the journaling is not complete.
For a post on traveling/visiting during the holidays:

Interstate Highway 5 is a long, boring straight road that cuts through the middle of California, but it's the most direct route from our home to Southern California where both of our families live.  This year we got up at 4:00 a.m. and trundled sleepy kids into the car, which Paul had already packed for the trip.  The kids and I work up around 9:00 a.m., and we were already on the outskirts of the Los Angeles basin, going over the Grapevine.  The ride is so much more pleasant when we sleep through most of it!
For a post about Dec. 23 and the family baking party:

Our first stop in Southern California was at my sister Cordelia's house, where everyone gathered for our annual baking party.  The tradition started the year we needed an excuse to meet secretly (away from our mother) to put together a surprise tribute scrapbook for mom, so we told her we were going to get together to bake.  We enjoyed the baking so much, that a new tradition was born. We had a wonderful time. Henry in particular had a great time playing with his two year old cousin, Cristina, who referred to him simply as "the boy," since all the other cousins are girls.
I'll probably have two posts from Christmas Eve.  The first will be about our visit to the cemetery to visit the gravesite of my parents:

I brought some roses to place on my parents' grave.  The cemetery had already put out the flags which had been placed there on Veteran's Day and Memorial Day (and which they saved). Henry and Clara were intrigued by the visit, and Clara said that next year she wanted to bring a lot of Christmas decorations to put around the gravesite, like many of the other ones she saw there.
The other Christmas Eve post will be about spending time with Paul's side of the family, and I'll use this picture:

Paul's parents have had this salt and pepper/ sugar set for as long as I can remember, and it comes out every Christmas.  We spend our Christmas Eve with the Fassinger side of the family at his sister Anne's house.  Highlights this year included a fun white elephant gift exchange, singing Christmas carols, and watching Henry and Clara play with their second cousin Chase, a delightful three year old who thought the big kids were incredibly fun!
Paul's parents wanted a family picture with everyone.  The one taken with my camera cut off folks at both ends, but it's still fun to have most of the family members in it:

Downtown for the Holidays

Today I dragged the kids out of bed at 9:30 am so that we could go downtown for the holidays.  I love seeing all the hustle & bustle at this time of year, and last year I decided to start a family tradition of going up to the City (San Francisco) to meet Paul for lunch, to do some shopping, and to look at the windows.  I captured a variety of City moments, like a wonderful Salvation Army bellringer with a beautiful voice singing Christmas carols, a flock of pigeons, a Solstice-inspired picture of the statue in Union Square:

I also captured a few more traditional images of Christmas trees and a Gingerbread castle:

I even snapped a couple of the kids and they captured me:

For my JYC today, I'll use one of these two hipstamatic pictures of our favorite holiday windows - the ones at Macy's.  We love them becauce they always have a Christmas Story (this year, "Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Clause") and animals up for adoption from the SPCA:

Do you get a chance to visit a real city during the holidays?