Taking part in Vlogmas 2016

On the 30th November this year, in the early evening, I first learned about Vlogmas. I must have been living under a rock, because since then I've seen references everywhere! But if you're like me and it's a new thing to you, basically it means that for every day in the run up to Christmas, or even every day during December, you upload a video to your YouTube channel. It doesn't need to be a Christmas themed video, although most seem to be, and there are no rules - it can be long, short, a straight vlog to camera, a day in the life, craft or recipe tutorial - anything goes!

Because I was coming in at the last minute, some of our Christmas preparations were already underway. The tree and decorations were up, present shopping was mainly done, and cards were written. But I decided that I wanted to give it a go, and once I set myself to a challenge I generally see it through.

I kept my videos quite short, often only 2-3 minutes, and many of them are done by theme rather than specific event, for example my Elf on the Shelf and Gingerbread House videos were filmed over several days. Some were very quick to put together and some took a little longer. I always aimed to have the next day's video finished and scheduled before I went to bed, and if I knew that I was going to be away or busy I set up a few general videos in advance.

I'm not very confident in front of the camera so you won't see very much of me, and I'm also a bit shy about filming when out and about, I'm always trying to make sure that I'm not filming too much of other people. I don't tend to take much video day to day. So I did feel self-conscious when taking some of the footage, and it was a real effort to make myself film things.

But I'm so glad that I did! I captured many moments that I wouldn't have otherwise - like my son in his costume talking about his carol service, the children getting excited before the pantomime started, the opening of the boxes that our Elf on the Shelf arrived in, as well as a few glimpses around our house which I'm sure will be fun to look back on in years to come. I also made an effort to do more festive things so that I would have something to video and include, like a trip to the garden centre and going to visit Christmas lights and decorations.

Below is my first video - Advent Calendars - and you can find all my videos in my Vlogmas 16 playlist - Jennifer's Little World Vlogmas 16 Playlist. I'm going to edit all the videos together into one long one which we can keep to look back on in years to come!

I'm already planning for next year!