December Daily

I've pondered the title of this post long and hard and can't help but feel it needs a bi-line and a bit of explanation. Many of you who read Ali Edwards' blog will be most familiar with the idea of the December Daily. It's a way of documenting the festive season through photographs, written thoughts, bits and bobs you pick up along the way and pretty scrapbooking papers and embellishments. It's a truly great concept and every year I faithfully follow Ali as she puts together an amazing book celebrating her family's Christmas. And every year I put myself under silly amounts of pressure to do the same. And I fail. Epically! My bi-line for the blog post should read "December Daily - well I can but try!" I have any number of half finished December Daily books hidden in my study. Hidden because they make me feel guilty. Guilty for not documenting everything; for leaving projects half finished; for not using all the great ideas I had.Last year I couldn't bear the guilt before I started, so I just did nothing. And this year I haven't given it much thought. Until tonight, when I decided I want to do something to document our Christmas season but without putting unnecessary pressure on myself. There's enough stress going on in our lives right now without me adding to it myself, but I fancy that a bit of creative something could be just the thing to give me the balance I so desperately want at this time of year. And so I shall bring you my own version of the December Daily here on the blog. Now, just to let you know, I am notoriously appalling at sticking to photo projects, so if I manage to get as far as next week I'm going to be calling it a success!In a bid to make life even easier I'm going to 'allow' myself to use phone shots as well as camera shots. I don't believe there's a rule book anywhere that says camera shots don't capture real life, and since real life is what I want to document I guess a lot of my images will come via the phone. Plus I just can't help my instagram addiction! So without further ado, let me share what December 1 2011 looked like.December came crashing to my attention at 2.30 am when Conor woke and was violently sick all over the bed. Obviously this happened on a night that Michael was working until 3 am, so the whole bed changing/mattress turning was left to me and my gammy shoulder. I then got to enjoy a restless night of Conor not really sleeping beside me. He's never been sick with a tummy bug before, and while there are endless lists of things to hate about having sick children, I can't help but feel that I scored big time today with the sick boy cuddles I got. Check them out! He actually fell asleep on my knee after lunch for the first time in a couple of years. I had nothing important to do so I just sat there and let him sleep, until the postman arrived and I had to sign for a parcel. I enjoyed a full hour of tiny snuggled in because only mummy would do today. I sucked every last drop of that hour in, I can tell you! Sick smells and all!In the moments when Conor was feeling a bit chirpier we began our festive preparations. Elving is what we're calling it this year, with a nod to Soule Mama for such a lovely verb. Paper chains were the order of the day. Simple and fun. And decidedly Christmassy once we got them up. I later added a few lights and small trees and decorations in preparation for a little craft soiree a few friends and I are hosting tomorrow evening. All in all not a bad day's work given the circumstances. The boys' highlight was the first door on their Lego City advent calendar - a criminal with a snowball who is now waiting for someone to aim it at coming out of another door soon!So how was December 1 for you? Do leave a comment because I'm that nosey and I would love to know!