december goals

this weekend i started thinking about christmas and decided that i needed to figure out my december goals early.  if i don't have a plan before the month starts, then it will all just get away from me again.  for example, this photo is from 2011.  i started a really cool vintage journal your christmas album that year and got completely derailed by day 14.  i'm hoping to tidy up all those sorts of loose ends this year, so i can start christmas 2014 with a clean crafty slate.

so, here are my christmas crafting goals in order of when i need to start them:

1. dig out all my christmas cds.  i think i bought a new taylor swift one last year that i haven't even listened to yet!  i think the carols will enhance my crafting.  :)

2. make a new garland for my christmas mantel and get the mantel set up.  i've got lots of cute things pinned to my holiday crafting board, but haven't decided yet what i'd like to make.

3. organize my christmas album.  i've gone through all of g's albums and pulled out all the christmas layouts, so that i can put them in one album to display each year at christmas.  there are several layouts that need minor repairs, and no christmas layouts after 2008.  i need to get one layout made for each of those four missing years.  i really like having albums like this that are more condensed snapshots of how g has grown from year to year.

4. buy a christmas blooming houseplant.  we always had a christmas cactus when i was a kid.  i've had the sudden urge to get one of those or an amaryllis.

5. journal your christmas.  i started a multi-year album in 2011 and i'd like to make some progress on it this year.  i don't have to necessarily finish it as it has a variety of photos from my childhood and gabriel's.  i'd like to at least finish the 14 pages i started back in 2011 and add a couple from this year.  i thought it was strange that i never shared any of the album on my blog, and when i dug it out of storage last night i realized that i never shared because i never journaled!  doh!  i'm hoping to get some of those pages finished this weekend so i can share.  it has a really neat construction.

6. christmas cards.  i don't plan on making a massive amount, but g and i had our portrait taken at church and i ordered a sheet of wallets, so i'm thinking to make 8 or 9 cards to send those out to family and a few close friends.  maybe it will be just enough to get in the spirit of an all out christmas card binge in 2014?  do you all send christmas cards anymore?  sadly, it seems to be a dying art and it was something that i thought was so magical as a child.

7. project life.  with all the other projects planned, i've decided to forgo making a separate december daily this year.  i'll be using the get it scrapped! "your december story" class for writing prompts and housing them in my project life album.  i'd also like to get december done in the project life 2012 album.  it's only a page or two, i think.

8. christmas tree and outdoor lights.  maybe get it early this year?  maybe get some new outdoor lights to add to the collection.  find a fun new ornament for the tree.  deck the halls!

9. christmas cookies.  g loves to decorate sugar cookies every year.  i thought i might try this recipe off my holiday food board.  i also want to make a batch of grandma's peanut butter cookies to send to the family.  they love getting them, especially papa.

10. teacher gifts.  i'd like to make a little something cute for g's teacher.  i flaked on this last year and felt bad.  maybe i'll make a little something for his third grade teacher as well.  and then, being a "special" teacher myself, i'd like to make a little something for his music, art, pe, and library teachers.  too much?  pinterest to the rescue?  perhaps.

11. pretty gift wrap.  i've seen so many cute ideas for gift wrapping on pinterest.  i'd like to wrap something pretty.  even if it's just one thing.

12. one little word 2014 album.  i've already got my word for next year figured out and i'm way excited about it!  i want to get a little album prepped to record next year's word all year.

13. 52 week project.  i saw this 52 week project several months ago, and immediately decided that i was going to make a granny square a week in 2014 then sew them into an afghan when they were all finished.  i'm still excited about the idea and need to choose a pattern and do a little practice/prep work before january.

14. christmas all year in 2014.  i love the idea of giving handmade gifts, but never do because it takes too long and time always gets away from me.  i thought it would be a majorly good idea to make something each month in 2014, so that i'd have some handmade gifts to give for christmas next year.  i need to sketch out a month-by-month plan for this.  i love making lists.  ;)