Welcome to another peek inside my Christmas journal. I’m using the “Joy to the World” journal in classic green wreath.

My cousins and I were having a recent discussion on Facebook about a hot drink we all grew up drinking at our grandparents’ house. I’d never really stopped to think of the emotional importance of different warm drinks in our lives. It made me pause and turn back in my journal.

Originally, I started keeping this book on December 1. But who says I can’t just open the rings and tuck in a November 30th memory?

Here’s what I did in the front of my journal last night:

The left page is one of the 4×4 inch scrapbook-style papers that come in this journal; the left is an Italian Christmas paper also enclosed.

Journaling reads: I have no idea where the nearest Starbucks is to our house in the tire, but I know it’s at least an hour away. And call me cheap, I’d rather get Milchkaffee in Berlin. (My Starbucks lingo is worse than my German!) But once a year, I do find a Starbucks. I get a holiday drink.

Materials used: left page: journal, black pen, coffee sleeve, scraps of ribbon, and double-sided tape. right page: journal, black pen, scrap of green paper, gold star, and double-sided tape.

I’m a huge fan of journaling on different types of papers of different sizes. It adds so much dimension. It makes the process a lot of fun!

Tonight, I’m turning to a writing prompt in the book that’s all about cold temperatures and hot drinks. I think I have an old family story to document about drinking Tom and Jerrys at my grandparents’ house!

Have you ever heard of a Tom and Jerry? What’s your favorite hot drink this time of year? Do you have a memory of drinking it when you were younger?

Come peek in more pages of my Christmas journal here.

I’m in the mood for a before and after. Good thing we’ve got a really awesome one to show you!

These pictures were taken from Gadanke’s future home in an old storage loft.

Here’s how one end of the hangar looked before we took on the remodel:

Deep sigh. Here she is today:

Clutter is gone. Heating system is starting to go in. Most lower walls are deep scrubbed.

(If you’re visually lost about which end of the hangar I’m showing you in these pictures, the loft where we’ll live is to the left of the photo by about ten feet.)

Everyone at the thrift shop knows us. By name. We call them to say, “We’ve got stuff!” They drop everything and send a few guys over to pick up our donations within an hour or two. When I first started calling them, it would take three or four weeks. Oh yeah! I’m Miss Popular! …at the thrift store.

Here’s some of our donation pile that came off that wall. Chains. Fridge. Metal shelving. Tools. Cords. Bottles. Degreaser. Rope. We even found some beer. They took that donation, too!

Martin and I constantly have enormous recycling piles to haul to the recycling center in our car and on a trailer about every other week. This decluttering is crazy!

Now I need your vote. I can’t decide if the highlight of the week was looking at that empty wall or hearing one of the men picking up our donation.

“Your donations are always so cool,” he said to me with a big ol’ smile. “Youz guys don’t ever donate a bunch of dresses and froo-froo stuff. You donate good stuff. MAN stuff!”

I didn’t tell him we don’t have any clothes to donate because we’re not buying any. I was too busy staring at progress…

I guess you could say I’ve been thinking a lot about footwear these days. Our recent discussion on handmade and domestically made socks kicked it off. Then I was thinking about shoes. Then baby shoes…

I think it’s the cold weather. I want warm everything. For everyone!

And if you happen to be our 14 month old niece, you’re going to have to ignore me today because I’m talking about local, handmade footwear for YOU.

These little booties are handmade by a new friend of mine, Sharie. A little group of us likes to get together to craft and chat and chat, which can be a little tricky since none of us actually lives in the same town! Ahh rural life.

Anyway, Sharie…

She wanted to design high quality shoes that would withstand hours of crawling and wobbly walking her little girls were doing. Now she sells her baby shoes in dozens of cute designs on Etsy. They’re non-slip even on wet surfaces and ice thanks to the rubberized sole.

Nonslip? After already putting bum to ice earlier this winter, I was hooked. The quality of craftsmanship is AWESOME! And if you’re looking for adorable baby shoes, good luck picking a favorite from Sharie. I finally broke down and had two girls from our craft group pick for me.

Now if we just had that sweet little Baby E here to fill these shoes.

Are you giving any handmade gifts to your family this year? Do tell! And share links. :)

Last night, I sat down to journal in my Christmas journal from Gadanke.

My goal is to record a tidbit about every day of the month. Maybe our celebration isn’t fairytale like. Maybe it’s not the kind you see on the cover of magazines. But it’s ours. If we look deep inside ourselves and stop comparing, I know we can truly see: it’s perfect just how it is.

That said, I’m not going to get upset if I have to sit down and journal about a couple of days all at once because I got too busy or didn’t feel like writing, and I’m not going to be bothered if I just plain out miss a few days. The reason I like to journal through Christmas is to document life.

The pages I write don’t have to be perfect and beautiful. I think it’s more important to get the stories down on paper. Embrace penmanship for what it is. Accept grammar and spelling errors. And just write.

It doesn’t matter to me if the stories I write are all about what’s going on today. Sometimes I see a prompt and want to write about memories. The memories we have directly impact who we are today. I think that’s why this page – and this German treat – had so much impact on me today.

Here’s a page from my Christmas journal:

I had to edit the prompt!

Journaling reads: When I see Martin witha bag of his favorite German Christmas treat, I know he is slipping into the holiday spirit. I know he’ll be okay with my Christmas music (which started a little [bit] two weeks ago!). I know that the crinkling of plastic coming from his desk is a package of marzipan. And I know he’s going to wonder who the heck cut up his package… and snatched a marzipan!

Materials used: marzipan wrapper, patterned tape, patterned gold paper, double sided tape, and a black pen and fading green marker.

(We have often found a lot of Martin’s childhood favorite treats from Europe at an Italian market in a my hometown nearby. The internet is another awesome place to turn, and some people say chain stores like World Market can have some good finds, too.)

There is still time to grab a Christmas journal if you want to document the season.

And swing over to the facebook page to see how Michelle in Wyoming used this page. Apparently, she’s the candy cane QUEEN!

What are some of your favorite treats this time of year? Ever had marzipan like they make in Germany? (Marzipan is more of an icing in the US and an almond paste treat by itself in Germany, I’d say.)