Heather Johnson Photography

Today’s layout is all about Gracie, our elf on a shelf. She never actually sits on a shelf, no she’s a busy girl who prefers to bring us baked goods or perform magic. That’s my kind of elf.

The Whole Spread:

Left Side:

Right Side:

I am having a lot of fun with this new tradition. It’s so cute to see how excited Holly is each morning and it’s just amazing to witness the PURE WONDER in her eyes. She still believes, and I know there are not too many years of that left. The first day she came she whipped us up a North Pole Breakfast…I wonder if I can get Gracie to do that all year long? Mornings would go so much easier for this mom if breakfast was already done by the time I woke up!

See you on Day 6, and thanks for stopping by!

Today Holly and I worked on another one of our holiday traditions together–making a gingerbread house! It was really fun, and so much better doing it with cardboard and craft supplies versus candy. This one may actually stay out all season long!

December already seems to be flying by fast doesn’t it? I better get shopping!!!

Did not take long to only have time for a one-page day. (See what happens when life is no longer the weekend?!)

I actually had to shift gears halfway through the day, as what I wanted to do I couldn’t do….but I do love what I ended up with. These are some of my favorite photos so far this month.

Marie just looks like an absolute angel in these pictures. Such a sweet, sweet baby girl.

Welcome to Day Two! I look forward to this month all year long, and am so happy to be participating in this project for the fourth straight year. To view last year’s albums click here.

Today was the day we decorated our tree. One of my favorite days of the holiday season, as it is also the day we do our ornament exchange. (A few years ago we had few ornaments AND ones we felt didn’t have much meaning, so we started buying ornaments for each person in the family we thought symbolized them or something special about us as a group.) Now we have a very full tree!

Day Two:

Left Side:

Right Side:

I sure hope these pages look like they took hours, because they did! I absolutely LOVE any template Cindy Schneider makes–but fast they are not! (Or I am not fast, one of the two.) Thank goodness I decided to use them on a Sunday night! Digital pages NEVER take that long, mainly because I use primarily the Project Life System, but this time of year I like to get a bit more elaborate….you know, when I have even less time than usual. I think I am a glutton for punishment!

Anyhow, I LOVE how it turned out in the end. I am absolutely in love with this digital kit by Zoe Pearn. I actually am using a combination of both, her ’tis the season kit and her a lot like Christmas kit.

We had a lot of fun decorating the tree and exchanging our ornaments. Marie LOVED playing with the pom-poms and was NOT a happy camper when we took them away. (It took Justin nearly 30 minutes to untangle them.) She also let out a big oooooohhhhh whenever she stares at the lights, it’s so cute!

Onto Day Three!

And for those of you that are wondering, I always make a Shutterfly photobook out of the pages, and yes they are a big 12×12. Definitely NOT my idea for it to be that big, I was hoping to do a 5×7 or something this year but my husband, yes my husband, wanted it to be 12×12. Turns out he loves looking at the past year’s books as much as Holly does!

Welcome to Day One! I look forward to this month all year long, and am so happy to be participating in this project for the fourth straight year. To view last year’s albums click here.

This year is going to be the best yet, as I have TWO adorable little girls that will be experiencing the magic of December. It really is more fun being a parent than a kid at Christmas….something I never thought would be the case! (I mean really, who doesn’t sort of miss the days when you had piles of presents on Christmas morning?!)

Seems I couldn’t get out of the groove of a two-page spread, so that’s what I ended up with for Day One. Not sure if that will always be the case, but my photo of Marie on my bed was just too cute not to showcase.

Both Pages:

Left Side:

Right Side:

For those of you who are friends of mine on Facebook you will know that these photos technically weren’t taken on the first. But whatever right? It was just a few days ago…and I felt they captured the season and an event I had never put in my book before–the making of the Christmas card. So in they went–Day One is in the book!

I am linking up over on Ali Edwards. Check out her site for amazing pages from all around the world!