Here is my December roundup:
What books and/or magazines did I read this month?
I read Janet Evanovich's Manhunt on the loooooong plane ride home from Albuquerque. A quick and fun read that would be enjoyable if you like the Stephanie Plum novels. This one isn't quite as zany as those, but it is still entertaining.
Got caught up on a few issues of Simple Scrapbooks, Creating Keepsakes and Scrapbooks etc.
Finished reading SuperFudge with my daughter - gotta love Fudge!
Read The Hound of the Baskervilles with my son - I really enjoyed this!
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What movies and/or tv shows did I watch this month?
I watched way more tv than I usually do. Hubby and I got into watching Scrubs reruns at night. Hilarious show! We also watched a lot of Mythbusters (Discovery Channel) as a family because it is my son's new favorite show.
We went to The Santa Clause 3 at the movie theater which was cute but predictable. We watched A Christmas Story on DVD which is always a classic!
My son got the 1st season of ALF on DVD for Christmas which he loved. We all watched several episodes with my family in New Mexico. Silly show!
My daughter got Grease on DVD for Christmas and I watched it with her. I think I was about her age (10) when it came out in theaters and I have always loved that movie!
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What special days did I celebrate and how?
Christmas was the big deal this month and it seems that the other special events we went to were centered around Christmas. We attended 2 Christmas parties as a family and I went to another one on my own. One of the highlights of our month was the live nativity event we were able to go to. My daughter had her first school orchestra concert where she played the cello. We had Christmas Eve at my Sister-in-law's house and Christmas afternoon at my Mother-in-law's house. We spent Christmas morning together here at home. On the day after Christmas we flew to New Mexico to visit my family for 5 days.
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What gifts did I give and/or receive?
I love to give gifts and I like to think I'm pretty good at it.
My Family:
We gave my brother Mike a Simpson's DVD and a calendar. My brother Zach received a book on Japanese Sword Making (he loves stuff like that!). I made 2 scrapbook albums for my parents and I also framed a special layout for each of them (will share these here on the blog soon). I also gave my parents some awesome magnets - these turned out so cute!
Hubby's Family:
We are all going to Disneyland together in February so we gave them each personalized Disney t-shirts that turned out quite cute. I also made a scrapbook for my in-laws and I partnered up with my SIL to make a vacation album for my in-laws.
Friends:
Hand dipped chocolate fortune cookies and then we ran out so we gave out cocoa. We gave/sent out almost 60 Christmas cards and we got at least that many in return. We were very blessed with a lot of Christmas love this year.
Kids:
We try to keep it somewhat under control with what we give to our kids because by the time they get presents from grandparents and other family members they end up with a ton of stuff! We gave our son a bunch of books and games. Our daughter got a dollhouse, some movies and some toys.
Each other:
My hubby and I just gave each other a few gifts because our big present is going to be a new bedroom set. He got me the gorillapod and a ginormous memory stick!
What did I get?
Besides the awesome gifts from hubby, I received a lot of nice presents. My kids bought me scrapbook paper and candles from the dollar store so you really can't beat that - what sweeties!
I also got a ton of new scrapbooking books, WeR Memory Keeper albums, scarves (handmade by my mom), a George Foreman grill, and money. Lots of good stuff for me! I promise to share more details in future posts.
Oh, and my sister-in-law gave me a Captain Jack action figure - isn't that the greatest?! lol!
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What illnesses or health concerns did I have?
I had my very first mammogram (ouch!) and I'm happy to say that it was completely normal. My kids got ear infections right before Christmas. My son unexpectedly got new eyeglasses when the technician at Lenscrafters broke his while adjusting them. Thankfully, there was no charge!
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What new foods, recipes or restaurants did I try this month?
Real New Mexican tamales which are a traditional Christmas dish in New Mexico. (Yum!)
Also a sweet chex mix that my Mom made for us (I need to get the recipe)
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What special or unusual purchases did I make?
see gift entry above. We also started shopping for bedroom furniture (yay!) that we will be buying in January.
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What were this month's disappointments?
We had a great month, not too much to be dissapointed about. Of course I could have done without the massive snowstorm in Albuquerque! They had 20 inches of snow fall while we were there and I think they have like 1 snowplow in the entire town. We were pretty much snowbound and we had a long wait at the airport to go home. But we were one of the lucky ones because our flight did not get cancelled like all the other ones did the day before that.
Does that look like Albuquerque to you? There is actually supposed to be a road in this picture but it was buried under 20 inches of snow. My mom says they still haven't plowed it and this picture was taken 6 days ago!
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What were my accomplishments this month?
I made 37 scrapbook pages, most of them were for gift albums so I have a lot of new layouts to share here on the blog! In fact, all together I gave away 140 scrapbook pages!!! The great thing about digital is I didn't have to make everyone of those because I could duplicate some of them. But I did end up making almost 100 unique pages total to put together those gift albums. Now I can also print them out for my own albums though. Oh, and did I mention that I spent a TON at the Costco photo center in December? I will be doing that in January also, but it is well worth it!
I would say it was also a big accomplishment just getting through the month. We were incredibly busy but happy, and mostly healthy. We had a nice Christmas and got the chance to go out of town to see my family as well.
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Have you rounded up December yet? Don't skip it even though it is tempting!
Now I'm ready to start working on a year end recap layout. I'm going to go back through my past roundups for information. You can also find some good ideas for year end layouts on the digi dare blog.
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