Looking back and Looking forward

Christmas was pretty much off the charts for us this year. We woke up to a blanket of snow and by the end of the day had between 3"-4". That's pretty much unheard of around here. More about that later...

Looking Back:
This time of year is somewhat bittersweet for us. It was the 6th Christmas without John's mom. I always especially think of her this time of year because she loved Christmas so much. So in honor of her memory I'm reposting this layout I did a couple of years ago.
The journaling is written to the kids and reads:
I'm pretty sure Christmas was your Nana's favorite holiday. She absolutely loved putting up her Christmas tree. I can specifically remember at least one year that she had it up before Halloween. She sure knew how to decorate a tree and she would put so many lights on it that it's a wonder she didn't cause a neighborhood black out. She loved to just sit and look at her tree in the weeks leading up to Christmas. I'm not really sure why she liked doing that so much other than it was just so beautiful.
I wish I could ask her.
I wish I could ask her what she was thinking about all those times I remember seeing her sitting there taking the tree in.
I miss your nana Wright.
I get so very sad when I think about how much she would have loved you and spoiled you rotten had she had the chance to know you. I wish you had the chance to decorate a tree with her. She would have loved that so much. I hope your daddy and I remember to talk about her, and tell you stories about her, so that you will know her through us.
It's hard sometimes.
Especially for your daddy.
But we want you to know how special she was and that she would have loved you with all her heart.


Looking Forward:
We are just hours before a new year. I have big plans for this year. In fact I'm pretty sure I'm being a bit over ambitious with what all I want to accomplish. Nevertheless, this seemed like a great place to get it "on paper".

Some of my larger goals:
•Getting all of our paperwork organized.
For years, every time we need insurance info, birth certificates, car titles, etc. etc. we end up spending HOURS trying to find it. There are currently 3 different places we have paperwork stashed and it's not at all organized.
A lot of it needs to be thrown away. ( I really don't think we need cell phone bills from 1999. That's a bit of an exaggeration, but you get my drift.)

•getting all of my scrapbook pages in books. I now have 3 years worth of scrapped pages that need to go in albums. If I had to make a guess, that equals about 250-300(maybe more) pages.

•getting the clutter and stuff under control around here. This is probably the biggest one because it involves every room and closet in the entire house. Massive purging and organization needs to take place. And I need some kind of game plan to keep from being overwhelmed and to stay on track. This is a HUGE one for me, and to be honest I don't fully know how to tackle it.

•get the garage cleaned out enough so that I can put up a few shelving units for stockpiling. Since I began couponing at the beginning of 2010, I've discovered how much money we can save and how much stuff we can get for free. The one problem I've had is storage and/or pantry space. To completely take advantage of coupon savings, you really need to buy enough for 3-5 months when things hit rock bottom prices. So I need a few shelving units and some place to put them.

Those items are "stuff" related. Here are my other top goals.

•Daily Bible reading. This is something I've GOT to get better at. It's not easy to admit that I haven't done well with this lately. Our church congregation is reading the Bible through this year together in chronological order. I'm excited about this because John got me a chronological Bible a while back AND I have an iPod app with audio to go with it. I have no excuse to not do this!
I'm also hoping to incorporate our nightly story time with the kids before bed. No reason why they can't be a part of this too. Some days will be easier than others depending on what chapters we're reading for the day, but we'll make it work.

•start exercising and lose some weight. Isn't this 99% of the populations goal at the start of a new year? :)
I started Couch to 5k this morning.

•get on a better daily schedule. Plan tasks and errands for certain days of the week to include going to the grocery store and making my weekly coupon deal runs on the same day every week rather than just whenever I get it together. This also includes a more consistent routine for the kids.

I have more, but looking at this list makes me tired.
Happy Holidays everyone!

I hope 2011 is a great year for you!