Apparently, I wanted to make up for slacking on my 52 project last week and Christmas overall because I decided to try out a technique which is a little cheesy, but was also a little fun and definitely has a Christmas theme. I recently came across a tutorial on how to add a picture to a snow globe so I thought I would try it out.
Unfortunately, the only snow globe we have is a pink Sophia the Princess one so it's not Christmassy at all, but it was going to have to do. I was going to change the color in Photoshop, but couldn't get it right so I left it as is.
I also realized that I don't have nearly enough pictures of us three together, especially not in winter. I tried several photos, but this one fit the best for a winter theme even though we are in t-shirts. Ha - it's realistic to be in t-shirts when it's snowing, right? Goal for next year: more family photos.
I did most of this in Photoshop, but then went back into Lightroom to add the text as I had some Christmas ones saved there. Basically, I layered three pictures... first the snow globe picture and the family picture (I brushed in the family picture) and then added a snow overlay that I got for free from Florabella and painted that over the snow globe. I finished it up with adding the text I got for free (for a limited time) from Pretty Presets. Oh yeah, and along the way I got rid of the Disney stamp on the base of the globe.
It took me a few tries to get this to look right (and I'm sure could be perfected even more), but it was fun and a new photography challenge that I was able to tackle. This would also be good to do with a shiny bulb ornament on the Christmas Tree. Perhaps next years Christmas card?
So we started out the Christmas season somewhat big with cutting down our Christmas tree and a holiday party, but then things sort of petered out. We went to Disney on Ice, which wasn't holiday related, but in some ways it felt like it could be. We had big intentions, but I think I got into a little funk, feeling a little overwhelmed by life, but not necessarily Christmas stuff. Just rental property, work, etc. It didn't help that Riley was miss crabby pants this past weekend. Not sure what's going on, but sure hope it passes soon (oh hey, she puked tonight - that might explain it). Also, the days have been soooo short and dark. The lack of sun has done a number on me, but at least the days are starting to get longer now. That's something, huh?
Anyhoo, the week before Riley's winter break was spirit week at her school and while it wasn't Christmas themed (super hero day, backwards day, crazy hair day, pajama day, sportswear day), I did sneak in an ugly Christmas sweater on crazy hair day. Riley was highly offended when I called it an "ugly sweater" and asked if I really thought it was an ugly sweater. Ugh, no, of course not... at least not you you little girl.
I neglected to take picture any of the other days, because MOOD, but it was a fun week for her. No surprise that she was most excited about pajama day. She is MY kid after all.
I did want to squeeze in a couple more holiday things before Christmas day so we decided to decorate a gingerbread house last week. Jesse picked up a pre-built one as he's watched the struggles in past years. Unfortunately, the kit only came with icing and no candy so there was an extra trip to pick that up. Even so, I'm totally on board with the pre-built gingerbread house. It just made everything easier.
Towards the end of the weekend, I was determined to work in something Christmassy and while Jesse was tired, Riley seemed to be in a good mood for the moment. I had been planning to go out to a neighborhood my dad took us to last year, but I found 4 houses in Plymouth that had lights synced to Christmas music so we decided to check that out instead. Each house had a radio station that you could dial into and each were decorated to different degrees. The first spot spanned multiple houses on each side of the block. There weren't a lot of lights, but it was fun to see the lights all around you. We went on the the second property, which was probably our favorite, although we didn't know it at the time as we didn't spend much time at these houses. We knew the last house was the most decorated so we were looking forward to that, but we really should have given these first houses more of a chance.
The second house
We weren't the only ones driving around and at one point we saw a party bus that even had a fireplace roaring on the TV inside it. The last house, and the one the most decorated, was also the busiest. To be able to sit in front of the house we had to get in line and listen to at least 4 songs.
Actually, this place listed a sound track on their website of multiple songs, but their system seemed to be caught on a loop so we got to listen to a funkified Joy to the World over and over and over. It was also a lot more religious themed than I'm into so you could say I was more than ready to depart after listing to the same song 4 plus times.
We have a local park that is lit up from November to March so we were going to check that out last night, but Riley was still out of sorts. Luckily, those lights are up for awhile so we can check them out at a later time.
Christmas is right around the corner so the scope of Christmas activity so far this week has been wrapping gifts. Not the most exciting Christmas season, but far better than last year when I missed Christmas altogether because I was sick. At least I can be grateful for my health (knock on wood).
I've almost made it a year and I'm finally starting to slip with this project. I almost forgot to take pictures for this project this week, but caught my husband with the camera taking pictures of our daughter jumping off a chair. I took over and started taking my own pictures (where she moved to the couch).
Riley's such a director - constantly telling me when to take a picture and often looking right at the camera when she was jumping. I'm glad she's so cooperative when it comes to pictures because the cat and Jesse wouldn't tolerate being my subjects for 52 weeks out of the year.
I thought I would be taking all sorts of Christmas type pictures this time of year, and perhaps I will in the next couple weeks, but it was fun to 1. catch my husband with the camera since he doesn't pick it up as much anymore and 2. watch my daughter have fun and just be with her.
We finally decided this was the year we would check out Disney on Ice. I anticipated it to be pretty classic Disney stuff, but I didn't realize that I would be so impressed with the skating and the acrobats. Seriously, impressive.
We bought an extra ticket so we could ask a friend of Riley's to attend with us. Both Riley and Sylvia were delighted and sat on the edge of their seats for the entire show.
Waiting for the show to start - moments later they were on the edge of their seats.
I had no intention of taking pictures, but noted that I wanted to get a picture of Riley and Sylvia together so Jesse suggested I bring the good camera (since my point and shoot won't stay charged and the camera on my phone is a joke). I pushed my ISO to 4000 thinking I would end up with super grainy pictures, but they turned out far better than I expected. However, I was actually so engrossed that I (mostly) didn't think to take pictures until the 'exciting' parts of each scene were almost over.
Tiana
Snow White
Cinderella
Rapunzel
Finale
The girls had a blast and were wired up the entire ride home. The cost of tickets were somewhat reasonable (although the merchandise and food were not - we got a $12 bag of popcorn). I didn't think I would be saying this, but I'm pretty sure we will do this again.
As I mentioned in another post, Riley received her first Christmas gift - a Spirograph. She loves it, but does get a little frustrated with it from time to time as it takes a while to get the process down and it's easy to make mistakes.
Riley was telling a friend of her's that Santa sometimes brings gifts that you don't want - things that aren't on the list. She rambled on about Santa bringing her a Spirograph - a gift she didn't even know she wanted, but that she loves it. You could tell that she was trying to figure out how he would know to get that for her.
Naming her 'flowers'
Needless to say, the Spirograph has kept us busy and we've already bought more pens for it. I find it a bit therapeutic and cathartic. It brings me back to my childhood, but it also has me focused on the moment - not distracted by technology or chores around the house. Just me and my pen, and my little girl sitting next to me.
Every year in December, a few weeks before Christmas, Jesse's family rents out a local town hall to celebrate Christmas with the extended family. As I've mentioned before, Jesse's mom is one of 11 kids so there are quite a few people that attend.
The day was filled with arts and crafts, kids running all over, lots of hugs, sooo much food, an ugly sweater contest, a visit from Santa, and good conversation.
Lol - Amy's expression
Riley wanted nothing to do with Santa as usual. We've never really pushed her, but encouraged her to at least walk up to get her gift. Many years she makes Jesse or myself walk up with her, but this year she went up on her own and even sat on his lap. I think she saw all the other kids doing it and decided it would be ok. Santa was trying to get her to smile, but I think she was just trying to keep her cool.
Riley loves drawing and creating so we thought the Spirograph would be the perfect gift. And we were right - she's been playing with it so much that the pens are running out of ink and it's only been three days. You could say it's been a big hit. I've been reliving my childhood as well - pretty much everyone over the age of 40 at the party commented on how they had this as a kid.
I had no idea that people were going with an ugly Christmas sweater theme this year. Funny thing is, I almost put Riley in an ugly Christmas sweater that she received as a hand me down. Jan (third from the right) was the lucky winner of the contest, but honestly, they were all winners in my book for wearing them in the first place.
We had a special treat with these two singing for us while the little girls danced to their music.
It was another fun party with some new faces in the room (including an adorable little baby), a few new food items (always so much food and I want to try it all), and lots of hugs. Seriously, these people like to hug.
