…The tree is down and it is not perfect. Not at all. But grandpa think he can make it work – just like his father did every Christmas.

Now – it`s time to let the little ones do the work…

You might think this is a propped photo? It`s not. She dragged the tree almost down to the car.

It`s still dark outside this Sunday morning and it`s too early to predict what the day will bring, but I am sure it will be a good one. Enjoy it – were ever you are!

…I am supposed to track how I spend my time this week as a part of Karen Grunberg`s  workshop Reclaiming My Time at BPS. At first I thought that there were no need for me to do that. I knew how I spend my time. I may not spend my time as I should but at least I know where I vast it Or – I thought I did. Not so sure of myself anymore so I will track my time in the week coming up. Ugh…

My brother and his wife, the grandparents, are in Trondheim this weekend visiting their youngest son Tor and his fiance Marita. They just bought their first apartment and need som help remodeling. At midnight I got this photo attached to an e-mail. Translated it says: f….mother in law. I had to play around with this. Here is my take on this situation:

Sometimes you just have to take control in order to get things done:)

I`m just praying that she doesn`t come here and boss me around. Because then it would be no time for scrapbooking, blogging or surfing the internet.

I have reached the last day of 2008. Yeah!

Crazy things happens close to midnight December 31.

Don`t you love the helmet? Good plan to prepare for the fireworks!

I was up at 6am and was met by a cold and clear day. Still dark of course. At 7.30 I had cleaned my bedroom and finished two machines with laundry. I have to admit that I did slow down as daylight turned into a sunny clear day. But, I followed my plan and I`m about two weeks ahead of my usual self this time of the year.

I can`t remember having this kind of weather at all in December. It is nice!

…I`m not sure if I am behind or ahead these days:) Three weeks ago I covered the advent calendar from 2008 and today I`m working on the New Years Eve 2008. The  2009 album is supposed to be finished before Christmas. Am I in trouble? Okay – here is our traditional calendar being raided for chocolate.

 New Years Eve 2008, December 2009 and housecleaning….confused?

…The crew have spotted the perfect tree.

And grandpa is waiting to get the final go…

They don`t look happy about their chosen tree?

Me? I had my eyes set on a much higher one:)

Like one of these?

…It was still dark outside when the machines started digging. It kind of forced me to stay inside my scraproom where I can block out the noise and pretend this is not happening. So – what to do locked up in a scraproom? Well, I did have one thing I wanted to do. Stacy Julian had a sweet album project in her blog last weekend. I found that to be a good idea. You can see the project HERE.

We don`t take so many photos during Christmas, maybe because it`s dark all the time. And I have next to none from before 2007. So I decided to use 2 photos from every month for each child. Next – almost all my photos are vertical, so I had to do a little more work with each photo.

I don`t have Christmas paper from years back so it was a little hard to use the few papers I have. But, I guess I will be fed up with Christmas in January so I let that one go. This is not finished yet but I have picked the photos and cut the journaling-cards. My ultimate plan here is to make the kids parents write inside this albums. They will hate the thought of this. I know that. Does that make me a bad person? So what!

A little scrapbooking. Here is baby Elin last December. She is so pleased with her self after getting the Christmas tree with her grandparents.

And here she is making gingerbread house with grandma in December 2008. Yes – I am working with last December now. See…I am fed up with Christmas in January:)

I had a vacation day yesterday, going in to work this evening and then another vacation day tomorrow. Or, at least I thought so before the phone call came a few minutes ago. How come every time I have vacation someone get sick?

…Me? I like the plastic version but I am totally alone in my family who does. The rest of them are out there looking for the perfect tree every Christmas. The tree in my childhood home has always been collected from our own forrest, but I have never been there for that event. So – this was a first time for me and Kristian both.

Here they are – Kristian, grandma, grandpa and Elin. A good team. Me? I`m behind the camera:)

Santa Grandma is waiting for the tree in the pickup.

…Today, when I could have slept in, I woke up at five – two hours before my wake up call. This time of the year it`s dark at 3.30 in the afternoon and it`s still hard to see daylight at 9.30 in the morning.

Today it was still dark at 9.30 am. I am not complaining. Further north they hardly have daylight at all this time of the year.

At 10.30 I got depressed.

I am just stating a fact. I am depressed. This is so not nice of them. To dig up and cut the road outside a grocery store a few days before the Christmas shopping are reaching the top is not nice. This was 10.30 today and they had just started. Now – at 4.30 pm – they are still digging. Do you think they will finish in 2009? I don`t think so! After spending the day being depressed I am now more pissed.

Anyway – anger and depression can be like fuel, so I did get something done:)

The Christmas stuff is not important to me. It will be Christmas with or without it. But there is one thing I need, to be able to enjoy Christmas.

No Christmas without it!

…Is the day we go hunting for the Christmas tree. Nothing beats going up to Iverhjelen when the trees are covered with snow. You find a tree, but you really don`t know if it is the perfect one because of all the snow. When you come home you might have to give the tree some first aid to be presentable. I do remember my dad spending time in the basement trying to make the tree look good enough for my mother:) Of course, he never cut down a perfect tree. The perfect tree was left behind to grow into timber.

 I will be doing two page spreads for the big happenings. I think. I keep changing my mind here:)

 It should be possible to keep making pages like this through out the month.

…I woke up this morning at 4 of someone banging my door and screaming my name. It might have been a wishful dream – if not, it was a nightmare:) Anyway, I was awake and alone. So – I got an early start on my day. Walking into work it was cold and dark:

I wish it was snowing but the only snow to be seen was the traces left from last weekend. I could not resist adding a little flicr magic. It does add a little Christmas magic to the scene? In this part of Norway we are often blessed with snow the first weekend in advent but the snow are gone before we know it. We almost never have snow for more than a few days out here on the north-west coast of Norway.

I still have almost one hour of daylight when I come home from work in the afternoon. High up there we can see the Christmas tree at Ergan Coastal Fort. It can be seen far out at sea and it brightens our darkest time of the year. This small touch of magic is one of the many reasons I love this place.

I put together my Christmas layout before doing anything else today. I plan to make it an early evening since I have a vacation day tomorrow and want to make an early start on the day. There are things to be done.

Okay. Honest moment – it`s Thursday and “Big Picture Scrapbooking” – day. What more do I need to say? Can`t wait for Ali`s next handout. And it is the first day of Karen Grunberg`s new class. I`m not sure why I need a class to find out how I spend my time? I know that. But, she may have an idea how to spread that time and get me away from the computer for just a moment:)

That is not all. I can see that my Christmas album with the chosen paper have arrived the post office. So – early bedtime? Maybe not…

…It`s a good thing I only have myself to organize:) While waiting for the album and paper to arrive I came up with a plan B for my Christmas journaling. With all this journaling I may miss out on the joy of December? I don`t think so! If there is something to enjoy – I`m ready!

I found these fun digital layouts on sale at Jessica Sprague. I may be wrong but I believe it`s Live`s design.

The photos are from this afternoon and without planning it, I think I just wrote my manifesto for this years Christmas Journal. This album is mine so I can write what ever I want. I can write about my boring every day struggle in December. Even me – as a single, full-time working woman tasting 50 – find December to be a struggle. A struggle I love. Working at the grocery I can smell and taste Christmas every day, and I promise; it is hard work every day to make sure everyone got what they want. And I love it. Even if I am totally beat sitting down at the table Christmas Eve.

The first page is already printed and in my album.

I mounted the page on letter sized Kraft since I had a lot of that already. Wish I had that when I made Me – The Abridged Version. I had to cut down from 12 x 12 for that album. A lot of work since I made double pages for every letter.

Petra liked my little fellow but she never used something like because she was afraid she would think it would look silly later on. Yeah, it will look silly:) But, sometime silly is good. And I am too old to look back and search for regrets. There are so many things to worry about, being silly is not on of them.

So – enjoy December and have the courage to be silly!

                                                    Christmas Journal 2009.

                             Now – off to experience this first day in December.