November got away from me...

I had good intentions of more blogging this month but...it didn't happen.

Soon I will update with a trip review of my trip to Oahu and a glimpse at the Smashbooks I worked on in Europe and Hawaii. And hopefully some Project 12 layouts that I'm missing... and Christmas Cards, yeah I should make those...

But December is nearly here, which means... JOURNAL YOUR CHRISTMAS!!!

What is Journal Your Christmas (JYC), you ask?

It's a class. It's a community. It's a great annual craft project... and it's super fun!

You're thinking... OH But... December is so BUSY! When would I find time? Isn't that just adding to the pressure?

Well here's my first page from 2010, for an answer...

Today is Dec 1st. which means the start of our annual countdown to Christmas (and New Years!) and the beginning of my fourth Journal Your Christmas. When I first signed up for JYC, I was nervous that it would be another Christmas-time obligation that would bring stress as well as joy. I am delighted to report that I was wrong. Opening my e-mail to find a JYC prompt is one of my favorite things and carving out time to journal and create every day - instead of feeling like a seasonal obligation, brings me a moment of solace from the busy-ness of everyday and time to reflect on the things I love most about Christmas. So I'm committing myself to another year!

If you'd like to see my previous albums, you can check them out:

 Christmas Magic 2007

A Christmas to Remember 2008

Most Wonderful Time of 2009

Journal 2010

Christmas Journal 2011

Trip Recap #2

Germany

We arrived in Frankfurt and drove to our hotel in Landstuhl -- Schloss Hotel (which means "Castle Hotel" because you can walk to the Landstuhl castle)

We headed for Belgium! It was an adventure!

We were driving through crazy construction and a lot of exits were closed... we got off at a small town in search of a bathroom... and found NOTHING. I asked a local man who was working on his car where there was a bathroom and found myself in his house using his bathroom! CRAZINESS!
We stopped in Trier at Porta Nigra.

Then we drove through Luxembourg, hit terrible traffic... and arrived in Arlon in search of chocolates ... TOO LATE. Everything was closed. We wandered down the street and found the shop Scott had visited before and stood staring in the windows... When Chi Sun spotted the owner walking around the back. She knocked on the window, and lo and behold -- she came and opened up the shop for us! (Good for her because she made over 100 Euros for five minutes work!)

The next day we made a trip through the wine country, first to Bad Durkheim

At the suggestion of some friends,we drove on to Rothenburg ob der Tabor, an historical walled city.... where we walked around the charming cobbled streets admiring...

We visited St. Jakob's church where they have the amazing Riemenschneider altarpiece...I've never seen anything like it! So beautiful!

and the biggest craziest Christmas store I've ever seen! (Love it!) and the Crime and Punishment Museum which was so fun...

The next day we visited the Landstuhl Castle which was fantastic!

These carved stumps were hidden along the walk between our hotel and the castle

We also visited Heidelberg and Heidelberg castle with our group of friends

Then we headed back to Frankfurt to fly out. The trip was a whirlwind of amazing!

Trip Recap - #1

Part 1 - Paris

We arrived in Paris on Friday Evening. We had the most amazing meal ever at a little restaurant near our hotel where no one spoke English.

This is the Eiffel Tower from the rooftop garden of the hotel


Our only full day in Paris we spent travelling about on our hop-on, hop-off bus tour. We got to see all the big sites.

We hopped off at the Eiffel Tower, walked about and went on a river tour on the Seine.

And then to the Louvre. Where we had lunch, spent hours exploring and could have stayed forever.... (Knowing that the Louvre would suck us in time-wise... I tried to put it off at least...)

When the Louvre closed they chased us out... it's actually a remarkable closing procedure! Then we visited the shops at the Carrousel du Louvre.

We walked along the Seine by night, then back onto our bus to see the sights by night, and then off at the Eiffel tower, to get back on the Metro and back to our hotel.

The next day we visited Saint Chapelle, Notre Dame and the Rodin museum

Then we headed for the airport and back to Germany...