I decided this year to do my own version of a Christmas Album. I’ve done Journal Your Christmas for the past two years and have watched Ali Edwards do her December Daily with awe… this year, I decided to do my own combination of the two – a little of each. I think it will keep things fresh for me, both from a creative perspective and from a content perspective.

I started taking pictures on Dec 1, but didn’t really start on my album until yesterday. (just too busy) I have, however, a plan and a general approach in mind.

I began by listing things I want to be sure I capture – so far, I am at 25 things and that is without Shimelle’s prompts, so I know I will come up with plenty more thanks to her creativity.

Here’s my list in case you are looking for some inspiration yourself:

1. Letters to Santa
2. Letters to our Elf on the Shelf
3. Christmas Card (I plan to add in the cards we receive as well – maybe at the end of the album)
4. Baking & favorite recipes
5. Decorations (especially new ones or things that have a history or special meaning)
6. Holiday parties
7. Craft projects
8. Self portrait
9. Family picture
10. Visit by my brother & his family (this will be a big bunch of pictures, I’m sure)
11. Shopping & my shopping lists
12. Receipts & packing slips
13. the kids’ Christmas trees & the family tree
14. Grocery lists & menus for the special meals
15. Weather
16. Pinterest – things that have inspired me (and that I’ve actually done!)
17. Wrapping
18. Wrapping paper
19. Goodie bags for friends/family/teachers
20. Advent calendars
21. “Joy is…” and have everyone complete the sentence
22. “I’m loving …” things I’m finding special this year
23. Instagram photos/posts
24. TV Specials
25. Special events/traditions (like our annual trip to Lake Lanier Islands’ Magical Nights of Lights)

That’s it so far!  But, with all of that, I’m looking at a pretty hefty album!

I’m planning to make a small album this year, size-wise. I have decided to do 5×8 as the page size.  I have some extra 5×8 page protectors from a recipe book project and I will use those up. Not decided yet on the actual album, though. I had planned to use a 5×8 album I had from Staples (nothing fancy) but after coming up with my ideas I think it may not be big enough.

I may just end up binding the album with ribbon or clip rings… and coming up with a homemade cover.

I’m going semi-digital with some handmade/paper accents. I’m planning to print everything at home (note to self: buy ink!) and use white cardstock as my base and then go from there.

I bought the December Daily overlays that Ali Edwards uses and I’m loving being able to use those as the base for the page of the day.  My plan is to have the left-hand page be journaling and smaller photos/memorabilia and then the right-hand page be the overlay with a full-page picture.  We’ll see how that works, but here is a sample of the first two pages I have created.(still in progress)  They will not be facing each other, but you get the general idea.

I plan to share more sneak peeks on the blog as I go. I’m hoping to work a little each day but I know that, realistically, I will probably end up doing like I have done in years’ past and do my journaling here (or on a file on the PC) and then catching up with multiple pages on the weekend.

Are you doing anything to capture your holiday memories this year? Even if you don’t do anything but keep a journal of your activities and thoughts, I encourage you to! As I said in my journaling above, these Christmas albums usually end up being my favorite ones to go back and look at later.

I’ll share more with you soon.  Right now, I’m off to finish the Christmas shopping!