December 1st

- - - Advent begins. Today was the first day of this years Christmas Journals Prompts from Shimelle. Today our task was to produce the manifesto.
So here it is -

I have always loved Christmas ~ for me it has always had a special magic, a sparkle and glow that I can almost see, touch and feel whenever I think of it. It fills me with such a sense of anticipation ~ the same feeling I had on Christmas Eve as a little girl, that even now ~ old as I am, returns without fail at this time of year ~ that intense bubble of excitement in my tummy as the big day gets nearer!! As a child of course it was in anticipation of the visit from the Man in Red ~ as I became a mother it became anticipation of the “candle eyes” of my children on Christmas morning and now - well don’t quite know what causes it ~ I just love Christmas! So ~~ once again I am going to keep a Christmas Journal. I will write something down each day, creating a scrap of my journal every day, whenever possible, because I want to keep my Christmas as Magical as it always has been for me, and this will surely help!
I hope that by taking a little time for myself during this somewhat hectic period in my year that I can hold on to the true spirit of the season, despite the commercialization of Christmas that exists outside my cottage door.
Along the way I look forward to finding others who feel the same way as I do and who will share in this with me, and I know that amongst them I will find friends old & new, for whom Christmas is also Magical and who also want to remember why they love Christmas.

I also received the second CJ (Sue's) - with inspiring pages form "Sue's Soapbox" and equally fantastic pages from Nina. Need to get my thinking cap on to match the quality of the work they have produced and think of at least one idea to go in the CJ that fits with Sue's theme.Got a bust time ahead of me I foresee!!