Done. Finished. Over.

Done. Finished. Over.

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My fifteenth Christmas Journal is finished. The last few pages have taken me far longer than they ought to have done, but once we put Christmas away for the year, I lose interest. Quite how some manage to put it all together in July, I have no idea! My real goal would be to complete it in December, keeping up with the days as we go. At the start of each year’s project, I am filled with good intentions but usually fall behind from the second or third day and I spend the rest of the month trying to catch up.

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It seems a long time ago since we were in Nashville, but that’s where I kicked off this one.

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My first story was choosing the tree on December 1. I actually redid this page early on, because I’d included the tag from the tree (I like to save information like the price we paid and so on). I had left it hanging loose and every time I opened the book it dropped out. So, it’s firmly glued in place now, underneath all of the rest of the things and if at some point I need to know the price, then I will have to do some careful peeling back.

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I also like to collect the stamps from cards as they arrive, especially those from faraway places.

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This year, I remembered to collect examples of our own Royal Mail Christmas stamps too, though I left it too late to buy a set and had to rely on those which arrived on cards - just the first and second class ones then.

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One of those “We were unable to deliver a package” cards made a good page for those.

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Another page from a Caffe Nero coffee cup. Every time I see that spelling of “cosy” I squirm, though.

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Did you notice the trend away from glitter and sparkle this year? Though the shop windows were really cute and very attractive, they were a bit grey!

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I usually include some details of wrapping papers and so on. We had so much paper left from last year that I didn’t buy any this time round and my brown paper plans were put on hold. I made a new batch of tags using old photos of the recipients (as I have done for a couple of years…I need a new trick!) So, imagine my smiles when Amy gave us presents wrapped exactly as I had dreamed of doing - I’m not sure I could have created such elegant labels and trimmings though!

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There’s usually a point somewhere around here when I start to run out of sticky numbers. It’s only then that I remember I have a Silhouette machine and cut out a few more! This year, I had bought a pack of sparkly paper from Tiger which worked really well - it wasn’t the gritty and glittery sort that clogs the blade of the machine and leaves bits everywhere and I must remember to buy more next year as soon as it appears (it disappeared pretty quickly as good things do in there).

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My main food shopping list is in the pocket and if I come across the receipt (which I think is here somewhere) I’ll tuck that in there too.

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There follows a few pages focusing on the fun of Christmas Eve, when cheese fondue is our tradition, moving on through opening stockings on Christmas morning and then the main event, Christmas lunch.

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This year, Father Christmas had brought everyone, young and old, a sheepskin for their chair, their bedside or wherever. For now, they added a cosy touch to the Christmas table setting.

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I finished my journal with my usual reflections and a picture from a Christmas past - this year, one of me sitting beside my Nan and Grandad at a Christmas dinner in, I guess, 1970 or thereabouts.

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I gave a sigh of relief, signed it off and looked at the mess around me.

For once, I can’t wait to clear it all up!

In the shadows

In the shadows

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