December Daily 2011 | Day 13

Dear Hannah,

It's not easy, playing the piano. It's not easy to learn to read music. It's not easy to translate those symbols on the page into motions in your hands. It's not easy to do that on the fly, in the rhythm and tempo of the music. It's not easy to develop the discipline of daily practice. And it's not easy to put yourself out there, at the mercy of a live audience.

So the fact that you did it - and did it well - makes me all the more proud of you, and what you have accomplished this fall. You did super fantastic on your Christmas recital tonight. Just like I knew you would.

Love,
Mama

December Daily 2011 | Day 7

Dec 7, 2011: An Ordinary December Day

10:40am: up, breakfast
11:05am: William's bus
12:25pm: lunch
2:40pm: waiting for Hannah
3:35pm: jazz class
4:12pm: tap class
4:45pm: ballet class
5:36pm: in the drive-thru at Chick-Fil-A
5:52: visit Birdie
5:55pm: Buck's
6:06pm: Domino's
6:34pm: dinner &Mythbusters
7:16pm: Hannah practices piano
7:31pm: some playtime for the kids before bed
8:05pm: goodnight, William. Hannah is reading Monster High: The Ghoul Next Door
8:56pm: surfing Ali's blog, uploading photos, and upgrading to iOS 5.0
9:13pm: tuck Hannah into bed.
9:45pm: the upgrade to my iPhone is a no-go. Too many errors, too much frustration. Giving up and going to watch 24 with Chris (streaming Netflix thru the Wii).

December Daily 2011 | Day 4

Our wish lists for 2011:
Chris: shirts for work, PS3, Zelda Skyward sword
Heather: sunglasses, sheet music, stop mute, new Lord John book, horn CDs, kokeshi dolls, Adobe Lightroom
Hannah: Monster High video game, Tangled video game, American Girl stuff, Monster High dolls
William: dinosaurs, Little People, Power Rangers figures, Mario Bros. stuff, Toy Story stuff, Cars 2 stuff
Keepin' Santa busy this year!

December Daily 2011 | Day 3

Today we put up the Christmas trees. Of course the main tree is in the living room (the big 11-footer). We only have 1 new ornament this year: a space shuttle for Chris, to commemorate the end of the NASA space shuttle program. Then there is the 2-footer that was mine when I was a kid, which Hannah has been decorating for a few years now. And we have a new 2-foot tree this year, a purple one! (Hannah decided that her American Girl doll Candie had to have one.) Well of course we couldn't leave William out, so he now has his own tree, shiny gold and 18 inches high. He was so tickled to decorate his own tree. :)

December Daily 2011 | Day 2

Tonight I played the first of 2 holiday concerts with the Clear Lake Symphony. This year, my horn choir, Esprit de Cor, is being featured on a 10-part horn arrangement of Amazing Grace. Not technically a Christmas song, but I think it fits in the spirit of the season. Plus, it's just a beautiful piece, and a stunning arrangement. This fall we have been playing it in various churches in honor of our friend Bruce Brown. We were hoping that he would be able to play this Christmas concert with us, but sadly he lost his battle with brain cancer just a few weeks ago. So we play this concert in his memory. We even had a stand for him on stage, which I thought was a really nice touch.

William got totally caught up in Hannah's excitement this evening. He loved listening to the Christmas music and was even bouncing around to Jingle Bells. The biggest surprise came at intermission when he actually gave a hug to "Mr. Stuckey"!

On another note, I am not feeling well today. My ears feel full of cotton. I spent most of the day sleeping. Chris is ill as well; he actually took a sick day. The children, of course, are healthy as can be, and as full of energy and Christmas joy as ever.

Packages are being delivered to the house nearly every day now. So many wonderful Christmas surprises. :)

December Daily 2011 | Day 1

Hello, friend elf.

The kids are so excited you're here with us again, watching over them. They know that your arrival means that Christmas is almost here.

Hope you're enjoying hanging out on the gingerbread house that Grandma made. :)

December Daily 2010 | Thoughts

It's done! My very first December Daily album. :) Here's my thoughts on the process:

1. Having a premade foundation is definitely a good thing. I don't know that I could have finished this project if I'd had to create each page from scratch during the holidays.
2. I loved the 6x8 format! It was just enough space for my photos and journaling, and a little bit of something fun.
3. I liked having all the main pages the same size. It created a nice boundary between the days and a nice home for the odd-size pages I added in extra (photos, tickets, etc).
4. I liked the ease of the digital templates but I'm definitely happier with the hybrid pages over the pure digital versions.
5. It is totally ok not to finish until the end of January - or even the end of February. :)
6. Just taking the daily photos and doing the daily writing is enough to do during the holidays! The fact that I was able to keep up with the photos and journaling is what allowed me to finish the album so quickly. And I never would have remembered all those stories in so much detail had I not written about them that day (or the next morning).
7. It was hard to keep up with creating the pages during December. Partly this was simply because that month is so busy, but it also had a lot to do with the fact that I don't print my photos at home, yet I like to handwrite on my photos and layer scrapbooking product over the edges.
8. I need more patterned paper next year; I liked each day having its own design.
9. I loved that I had a place for ticket stubs and such.
10. I will do it again next year for sure, so that we can capture Christmas as we celebrate with my side of the family. But after that? I'm not so sure that I want or even need to do it every year. Right now I'm thinking every 3-5 years.

I'm in the process of adding photos of my album pages to the respective blog posts, but you can see the entire album here on Flickr.


This post is part of a series. To see all posts relating to December Daily, please click here.

December Daily | Day 18.

A sick girl was not part of my plan for the holidays. A happy girl, a creative girl, a smart girl, a silly playful girl, even a girl with an attitude was expected. But not a girl who naps on the couch in the middle of the day. Who does nothing but lie there and watch Christmas movies when she's awake because her temperature is 102.9 and she doesn't feel good.

I hope you feel better soon, sweetheart.

December Daily | Day 14.

Click photo to enlarge.

Dear Hannah,

Tonight you had your very first piano recital. And you were fantastic. You have worked so hard this semester, and it really shows. I really didn't expect you to want to practice every day, but you did (mostly). Actually, you have surpassed everyone's expectations, right from the very beginning. From that very first day you sat down at Ms. Amanda's piano and learned your first song with both hands simultaneously, to the ease with which you are flying through the first volume of piano studies, to the evident love you have for music theory, to the apparent comfort with which you performed your pieces on the recital, you have amazed everyone. It is so obvious that the music comes easily and naturally to you. And I hope - I pray - that it is a gift that you will nurture and cherish for the rest of your life. I am so very, very proud of you.

Love,
Mom

December Daily | Day 13.

Don't get me wrong - I have a wish list every year. It's just been a long time since I wrote to Santa! But if Ali can do it, so can I, right? LOL So here goes.

Dear Santa,

You've probably been wondering if I even still believe in you, after all these years. Well rest assured, I do! Watching Hannah write her letter to you every year still warms my heart. She is so intent, and so specific. And she loves you so much. And I loved watching William get in on the action for the first time this year. I don't really think he really understood what the purpose was, but he was certainly more than happy to add his special artistic touches of color to the letter I wrote for him. As for me... Santa, I'd love a big fancy tree skirt to put under my Christmas tree. And a media cabinet to hide all these game systems the kids are collecting. And a set of beautiful furniture for my bedroom, so it doesn't look so unfinished anymore. And a lot of other really expensive things. But mostly, Santa, what I want is peace. And happiness. And security in this fast-changing world. And strength to weather the storms.

I hope you have room on your sleigh.

Merry Christmas with love from

Heather

December Daily | Day 12.

Tonight I brought the family with me out to the gig I was playing at Heights Baptist Church in Alvin. It was a great show! The kids really enjoyed the live nativity they had set up outside. The pygmy goats were very chatty! And of course William had to climb in and check out the vacated sheep pen. (Highly hygenic, I'm sure.) Amazingly, the show had enough energy and variation that it held even my kids' attention... at least through the first half. The music was fantastic - lots of rock and Southern gospel. And the choir and soloists were very into their performances, which gave the music a lot of energy and just made the whole experience a lot of fun. Hannah even joined the other children in the parade led by the hippo from I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas and wound up dancing onstage! I'm sure the two slices of cake she had (before dinner!) had nothing to do with that...

December Daily | Day 9.

Do you see what I see?

I see a big girl who will sit still for a picture - but she will not smile.

I see a little boy who is willing to smile for a picture - if Mommy can catch him.

I see 2 kids who are growing up too fast.

I see a girl who is as smart as she is beautiful.

I see a boy who is joyful and full of love for life.

I see 2 kids who love each other immensely - even if they don't always get along.

I see love.
I see joy.
I see hope.

I see Christmas.

Today was full of challenges. The computer kept freezing up on me, slowing me down. Things not working and I don't know how to fix them. Looking for answers and can't find them. The children fighting with each other, and not cooperating with me, either. Not getting things done before it was time for me to leave for work. Lots of little frustrations and irritations, all piled on top of each other. On top of me. Today I'm just trying to remember to breathe. To keep it simple. To keep things in perspective. To see past the things that get me down and be thankful for all the many good things in my life. To remember that these days do not last forever. I can make tomorrow better.

December Daily | Day 8.

I love listening to Christmas music. It really gets me in the mood for Christmas. My favorite songs to sing along with are the old ones: Louis Armstrong, Eartha Kitt, Bing Crosby. A lot of the songs I love are ones my parents played on LP when I was a kid: Barbra Streisand, Andy Williams, the Carpenters. This year I was able to find a lot of those on Amazon and download them for my iPod. It has been really nice being able to take my Christmas music along with me wherever I go! I have a large collection of classical Christmas music too, which I've enjoyed on quiet evenings spent scrapbooking. It's also the perfect background to opening presents on Christmas morning.

December Daily | Day 7.

Today I finished up our Christmas shopping. Lots of gift cards this year; it's not my first choice for a gift but lots of people are asking for them. Wal-Mart for my nieces, Sears for my in-laws, Best Buy for Chris' brothers. Jewelry for one of Chris' grandmas. A dinosaur for my nephew Aidan and adorable baby clothes for my new niece Kiera (so much fun shopping for a baby girl again!). Barbie and Polly Pocket and Nintendo DS games for Hannah. Fisher-Price Little People and cars and construction "tools" for William. A Wii from Santa, for everyone. Extra controllers (a pink one for Hannah, though she now says her favorite color is purple) and games. And as fast as the days before Christmas seem to be flying, somehow the money seems to be flowing [out, that is] even faster.


And oh yeah, three 2011 calendars I'm supposed to make. Hopefully using the Basic Grey kits will help me get them done before Christmas this year!

December Daily | Day 6.

Today was just one of those ordinary December days. Chris & I were both so tired by the end of the day, we decided to get take-out from McDonald's and have a picnic dinner by the Christmas tree. We even put on a Christmas movie to watch while we ate (a rare event in our house).

I don't recall ever watching many Christmas movies when I was a kid, except for some version of Dickens' A Christmas Carol (probably the Mickey Mouse one). And of course Jeff & I lived for the days that the Garfield or Peanuts Christmas specials would air on TV. Back in the days when I actually watched live TV. With commercials. LOL

As an adult, I have become attached to certain Christmas movies and now we have a short list we watch every year. My absolute favorites are National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation and A Christmas Story. This year, for the first time, we will share A Christmas Story and Home Alone with Hannah. And of course it's simply unthinkable at our house not to have a Barbie Christmas movie! Both of the kids love Christmas movies, old and new. Even the really old stuff like Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. It always amazes me that even after all these years, and all the innovations in movie-making, that these old films are not just still around but actually beloved by yet another generation.


In our Christmas DVD basket:

1. A Christmas Story
2. Home Alone
3. Barbie in A Christmas Carol
4. Elmo's Happy Holidays
5. Shrek the Halls
6. Mickey's Christmas Carol
7. A Garfield Christmas
8. The Santa Clause, and Santa Clause 2
9. National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation

On our DVR for Christmas:

1. Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (1964)
2. Santa Claus is Comin' to Town (1970)
3. The Polar Express (I really need to pick this up on DVD, but I haven't been able to get my hands on a widescreen format yet)
4. Mickey's Christmas Special (premiering this year on the ABC Family channel)
5. A Charlie Brown Christmas
6. Frosty's Winter Wonderland (1976)
7. Disney Prep and Landing
8. Frosty the Snowman (1969)
9. Frosty Returns (1995)
10. How the Grinch Stole Christmas (the original one with Boris Karloff)

December Daily | Day 5.

All the good stuff at Target is already gone.

Reality check: You cannot go shopping for Christmas lights on December 5th and reasonably expect there to be anything left on the shelves.

I do this every year. I just can't get in the mood for Christmas until well after Halloween - no matter how much the retailers try to shove it down my throat earlier - and then my schedule is starting to get so busy that I don't even think about going shopping until it's actually December.

I guess the other part of the problem is that I really don't have a clear idea of what I want for the yard, other than that it should fit in with the candy + gingerbread theme we have going on. And of course it has to meet my standards for cuteness. ;)

December Daily | Day 4.

William decorates the bottom 3 feet of our tree.

This afternoon we put up our Christmas tree - something that we typically do the first weekend in December, since we aren't usually home over Thanksgiving weekend. We start with the 9-foot prelit tree we bought last year. Then we add a few essential strings of colored lights around the middle: my favorite lights ever, lantern lights my parents bought in 1975. The tree just wouldn't be complete without them. Our garland is strings of red beads meant to look like strings of cranberries (as in days of old). Then the kids' favorite part - the ornaments. We have a hodgepodge collection of ornaments from my childhood and Chris', ornaments from Grandma Hare's and Grandma Howerton's collections, new ornaments we've picked up since we got married... and an assortment of unbreakable ornaments at the bottom of the tree, just for William. :) Some of our favorite ornaments include our baby ornaments, the kids' baby ornaments, our first house ornament, and several of the Hallmark bunny ornaments.

Finally, the star goes on top. We had to buy a new one last year, since the old star I grew up with finally gave up. The new one is super fancy, using fiber optics to change colors; it creates quite the colorful light show up on the ceiling. We don't have an official tree skirt yet; I've been shopping, but have yet to find one that fits both our tree and our budget and is pretty enough to suit me. ;)

Did I mention that the tree, with the star on top, has to be in just the right place in the living room, or it doesn't fit? Let's just say we neglected to account for the slope of the ceiling when we went tree shopping...

December Daily | Day 3.

The CLS horn section after the concert (and a few margaritas!).

The Christmas concert: truly at the heart of practically everything I do during the month of December. Sometimes rehearsals and shows take me away from home more than I'd like; and sometimes I am all too grateful to be able to escape the house. But I love it! I love playing the horn, and I love that I can have friends and a life outside my family. I love going out for margaritas after the concert. ;) But I also love that Chris and the kids come listen and watch me play. I love sharing my gift with them, especially at Christmas. And if it really is the same arrangement of Sleigh Ride that I've been playing for the past 20 years, well this is the time of year when traditions seem to matter most. When they mean the most. So saddle up that horse and sleigh, and pass me a peach mojito!

December Daily | Day 2.

This is our usual Advent calendar, which we've been enjoying every Christmas since 2001. Probably the only thing we ever bought out of a mail-order catalog that we've actually kept. lol

This is Hannah, asking can she have a new Advent calendar this year that has treats in it.

This is me, looking online and finding out they now make cool Advent calendars for kids with toys in them.

This is Chris, running to Wal-Mart at midnight to see if they have the Polly Pocket Holiday Calendar, because if they don't, I can order it online for a reasonable price. But it has to be done before 6am, and we are so not morning people. (And as long as he's there, picking up Aidan's Christmas present.)

This is me, ordering the calendar online and springing for 2-day shipping, so my girl can have her present 5 days earlier.

This is Hannah, excited because she gets not just a treat but a new toy every day until Christmas.

This is William, excited because now he gets to pull all the bricks from Santa's chimney himself.

This is what makes all the effort totally worth it for me and for Chris. :)

There's something really fun and exciting about an Advent calendar. I think maybe it's just being able to see, visually, Christmas morning getting closer and closer. I remember when I was a kid, my mom always got me a Hallmark Advent calendar. They were different Victorian buildings and each day had a charming little picture behind the door or window. It was always so much fun to hunt each day for the little door with the right number and see what the picture was.

Anticipation made tangible.

December Daily | Day 1.

Around our house, the first sure sign of December is the appearance of Jack the Elf. He comes from the North Pole to hang out at our house during the first 24 days of December to observe the kids' behavior, and reports back to Santa at night. Every morning he is in a new spot, and it's a great game of hide-and-seek for Hannah to find him before she goes to school; William hasn't noticed him yet. When Hannah told her classmates at school about Jack, they informed her that they didn't have an elf at their house, her reply was that they must not be looking hard enough. Love that.

The highlight of my day was watching the sunset over the city from the 49th floor of the Shell building, where my horn choir was playing a gig at a private Christmas party at The Downtown Club. The view was absolutely amazing; the sunset was totally magical. Definitely a great way to start this season of wonder.