Monday, December 27, 2010

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:

8 comments:

Amy said...

Rinda I always the your posts about your families and all of your traditions, your family reminds me a lot of mine - I know I have said that here before!

Kristin said...

All of these things sound so familiar. I grew up in Norcal and moved to Socal, so I have made the I5 and 99 trip many a time. Travel safe and have a lovely time! Where abouts in so cal?

Happy new year! and great idea to remind you to journal when you get back!

scrappyjacky said...

A great way to remind yourself of what is going in the album.
I love that interstate highway photo....we have a similar one of traveling from Miami to Orlando.
Sounds like your xmas visits were a lot of fun.

humel said...

Love these snippets and insights into all you did :-) Hooray for blogs as a way of collecting your thoughts and sharing them with us! xx

Mommy2CVC said...

And she is still smitten with the boy. In fact she named her Bitty Boy Twin "The boy" and I asked her if his name is Henry and she said yes. LOL!Too bad she was under the weather on Christmas.

Sian said...

I have had a lovely browse through all your new photos this morning - I especially love that baking one: it seems to say a lot in just one picture.

It sounds like you have had a lot of wonderful family fun this Christmas and I'm glad to hear it! We have had a lovely time too - I got Photoshop Elements as a gift so I'll be learning to over the next few months.

Anonymous said...

Using the Hipstamatic photos was a brilliant idea. I've finally mapped out the rest of my journal pages, but it will be awhile before I am finished. I should get the journaling down as you have. I love reading about all the family traditions, and the photo is great. We failed to take one this year!

ComfyMom~Stacey said...

Lovely photos & great journaling!