Holiday Memory Keeping and Celebrating the Good

  I’m curious, how do you feel about the holidays? Are you someone who starts their Christmas shopping in June and just can’t fit enough Christmas trees in your house? Or are the Holidays not your favorite time of the year? I admit to having slightly conflicted feelings about the holidays, Christmas especially.

You see it can be SO MUCH WORK, especially for Moms. There always seem to be so many things going on at the same time, and it gets a bit hard for me to juggle them all. Many times I’ve experienced a bit of holiday letdown and been left wondering if I did the whole thing “right.” Was I in a good enough mood the whole time?  Did all of my friends feel my love and appreciation for them? Did my husband and kids have a great holiday experience? Is the ballet teacher going to yell at me again for being late again? (Ok… kidding with that last one, but only slightly *wink*.)  

Many years ago we experienced a pregnancy loss on Christmas Eve, and I spent that day in the hospital. While it made me ever so grateful for the things about Christmas that you cannot buy, I admit that it did put a bit of a damper on the holiday for a few years.     One of the things that I love to do at Christmas is make family memory albums. It helps me to remember all of the happy, wonderful parts of the holiday, and my kids and I enjoy looking back at how our lives have changed over the years. I know that even with all of the stress and hustle bustle of Christmas, what’s really important are the memories that we make with each other. It’s one of the things that helps me to celebrate the good at Christmastime. You can see some of my past albums here and here. I want to keep those memories, not just in my head but written down and documented somewhere for my kids to see when they are old and grown. Making a holiday memory album doesn’t have to be complicated and is actually really fun! So…people, get those photos off your phone! Print them and put them out somewhere for everyone to enjoy.

Today I’m going to share with you a very simple tutorial for making a family memory album.  You can embellish it more if you like or just take the idea of a Christmas memory album and do it in a way that works for your family.

If you’d like to make one, you’ll need:

two 6.5″x6″ pieces of chipboard (you can buy it at the store or cut up an old cereal box),

several pieces of 6″x6″ scrapbook paper, plus four 6.5″x6″ sized pieces for the front and back covers.

Binder Rings Photos trimmed to 4″x4″ (or just print your Instagram photos, as they are already square).

White card stock cut to 4.5″ x 4.5.”

Glue Stick. X-Acto Knife.

Heavy-duty Hole Punch.

Embellishments. 

To make the front and back cover of the album, just use a glue stick to glue the scrapbook paper to the front and back sides of the chipboard pieces.  Use your X-Acto knife to trim off any excess paper from the chipboard.   Then punch two holes in the front cover. Use these holes as a guide and punch the back cover and the inside pages all in the same place.

Now just glue the photos onto the white cardstock squares and then glue those to the inside album pages. Easy peasy. You can embellish as you like and use as many photos as you want.

I included a journal entry as the first page of the album, and then left the rest just for photos.

   

New York Life (@NewYorkLife) wants to help everyone remember to celebrate the good this Holiday season.   Tweet your favorite Holiday memory or tradition and use the hashtag #KeepGoodGoing and #FeedingAMillion and they will donate 25 meals to Feeding America.

Lets celebrate and bombard twitter with happy holiday memories all season! Don’t tweet? Visit New York Life’s website and upload a photo of how you #KeepGoodGood during the holidays.

In addition to the donation to Feeding America, New York Life is giving away a $50 gift card and a $50 donation in the winner’s name to Feeding America on behalf of BlogHer. 

For a chance to win, tell me about a holiday tradition your family celebrates!

*Through 1/9/15, New York Life will donate $2.50 for each approved post, with a minimum of $25K & a maximum of $100K. 
See full terms and conditions at NewYorkLife.com/CelebratingGood. Find info about Feeding America at feedingamerica.org.

 

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