Christmas Letter 2011

I usually pop a Christmas letter in our Christmas Cards every year to let everyone know what we have been up to over the last year. Last Christmas I didn't write a letter. Not much happened I really wanted to write about but I did do a blog post about my year HERE I decided instead of a Christmas letter I would go back and do another "Year that Was" post instead, saving the environment anyway right, not having to print out the letters!

Our 2011 Christmas cards made by Riley & Abbey

 So here is my 2011 .....


January
January was a real crafting month for me. I was doing stuff for Crafty Tart via their FaceBook page and I also started on the Better Scrapbooking Design Team. Here a few of my Favourite crafty projects of the month:
The Boredom Box
Love Letters
Homemade Whiteboard Monthly Planner
Grandad's Shadow Box
 Of course only having been without Jason for 8months I was still struggling with living without him HERE School Holidays were fun, we did loads of cool stuff, the kids and I.

February
February was another crafty month (in my house I would hope that EVERY month was crafty!) It also marked another one of those firsts without Jason, this one was his Birthday. The kids and I went to the Whangarei Falls and released 8 helium Balloons up to Heaven for Jase's Birthday. 8 Balloons for the 8 years we had been together. I met some AMAZING Blogging ladies who I can now call good friends. I started my I {Heart} Whangarei list. Another devastating earthquake hit Christchurch, sadly many lives were lost. I also discovered that I am not the only one obsessed with Orange!!

March
Riley turned 6! His first Birthday without his Dad. It was NZ Book Month. I stepped out of my zone and made a pretty cool canvas. I started the 30 Day Photo Project. I continued to struggle without Jase. My scrapbooking was published in the first NZ Paper Chase magazine.

April
I let go of something I had been holding onto since Jase died, and continued to use my blog to express my sense of loss without him here for 11 months. ANZAC Day is in April. I went to the Koninginnedag Festival, which is ALL about the orange! We visited  the Sky Tower in the holidays.

May
May marked the one year anniversary of Jason's Death. And May is NZ Music Month!

June
It was my Birthday! I got lots of Orange Goodies. Abbey's Kindergarten celebrated Matariki. I finished a project from Riley's 5th Birthday!  I discovered the Better After blog. I also got to help my good friend Hilary with her Scrap It Simple stand at SENZ!

July
It was Abbey's 4th Birthday! I discovered miniature food. Harry Potter came to an End *sniff sniff* I discovered Pinterest.

August

I found the 30 Day Mum Challenge.  We had a BIG Kiwi Mummy Bloggers meet up.  Abbey's Kindergarten had a Cultural Day.  I got surrounded by boxes because I became a first HOME OWNER!!!

September
I got the keys to my new house!  I went for a holiday to Christchurch for a Scrapbooking Retreat.  I started the Charmed Life Challenge. And had to say goodbye to my very dear bloggy friend Leonie.

October
I didn't blog much from this point to the rest of the year .. opps! But I was inspired by pinterest and was loving my HOME. Riley broke his arm and Abbey's Kindergarten had an awesome fundraising Art Auction. It wasn't blogged about but we also had Halloween in our new place.

November
Bad blogging month! But I can tell you one of my good friends, Nadia, renewed her wedding vows. My Art Night buddies, Ruth, Janine & I had a stall at Art Beat, a big Artisans Market here in Whangarei. Riley started playing Cricket for his school team, and LOVES it!

December
Wow I didn't even blog in December! It was a busy month! Preparing for Christmas and doing Christmasey things like seeing Good mate Juanita's band live at the Christmas at the Park!! Having the Coroners Inquest into Jason's death was hard just before Christmas. We also got a new family member, Holly the Christmas puppy!

What a year!!!
2010 was a year of heartbreak, sleepwalking and numbness
2011 was a year of surviving
2012 will be the year I begin to LIVE again.

Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and New Year I will be seeing you all again REAL soon!!