Saturday 12 December 2009

Journal Your Christmas - Part One

For some absolutely insane reason, I decided to participate in Shimelle's Journal Your Christmas for the second year running. I have no idea why, because it really stressed me out last year and I never actually finished it.

However, this year I seem to have become a lot more organised and I am actually managing to keep up, as well as go back to last year's journal and finish that one off too.

I am babbling here, because I realise I haven't actually explained what it is. Well, the Christmas Journal is basically scrapping each day up to the 4th January. Taking half an hour out of your day to read a prompt and then create a scrap page to match it. You don't have to follow the prompts if you have special events that you would like to record.

The reason I am actually doing this, is because one day I want to pass them on to my children. I have such vague memories of what Christmas used to be like as a child, that I wish someone had made something like this for me. When my children grow up, they will have some lovely scrapbooks to look back on and it will help them to remember their childhood and the traditions that we upheld.

I thought it might be nice to share with you the pages on a weekly basis, so here are the first seven.
Day 1 - This is basically a declaration, whereby I am promising to commit 15 minutes a day to creating this album. Within the writing I mention what a terrible year we have had and how we have lost cherished members of our family, so it is important for us to make this time of year special for the children and to remember the ones who have passed.

Day 2 - This one is all about snow. Now as you know, we don't get a lot of snow in our part of England, so I am desperate for a white Christmas. There has been a prediction of snow this year, but I am not going to hold my breath for it. This picture was taken in February.

Day 3 - This is about Christmas cards and as I made some of my own this year, I thought I would showcase them on my page.

Day 4 - This is about my perfect Christmas. Now we are having a quiet one this year, with just the four of us and I am really looking forward to taking it easy. There will be no rush and the presents will be opened slowly throughout the day.

Day 5 - The advent calender returns to it's home for Christmas. My mum bought this for the girls a few years ago and I couldn't find it last year. Hubby managed to find it in the tip we call a garage. So it has been filled with chocolate and the girls are loving it.

Day 6 - I actually moved away from the prompt for this one, as I wanted to write a page dedicated to my nan who passed away in February. I have written a letter to my nan and hidden it under the photo. I have to say, I got really upset creating this one, as my nan was always such a big part of our Christmas celebrations. This photo was taken for the girl's first Christmas at home, as their first one was actually spent in hospital, as they were premature.

Day 7 - Another one where I avoided the prompt. I wanted to show the charity van that comes around our street every Christmas. This is now a big part of our Christmas as we always listen out for the music to herald it's arrival. In previous years, Father Christmas has been on the van,but this year they had The Ice Queen instead.

I hope you enjoyed seeing my Christmas journal. I will be back next Saturday with the next installment.


14 comments:

  1. What a beautiful idea, creating all those lovely memories for your children. I look forward to reading more about this challenge as well as seeing more examples of your wonderful work.

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  2. This is a really great idea to pass something tangible down to your kids about the memories they will no doubt cherish.

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  3. Your pages are absolutely stunning! The twins will cherish this keepsake more and more as time passes. You're extremely talented, Vivienne.

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  4. Hi Vivienne...I love your journals! Where do you find the time. I spent half of my day cleaning and taking care my four whining greyhounds.
    You're amazing.

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  5. The journal idea is wonderful, and your pages are beautiful!

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  6. What a wonderful idea. I'm sure your children will treasure these books for years to come.

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  7. Hi, Vivienne! Your scrapbook pages are really works of art! There's just so much detail that go into them!

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  8. This is truly lovely Viv. I wish I had done that when my children were young :(

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  9. These pages are just beautiful Viv. I'm sure your girls will cherish these when they are older. I'd love to have something like this to look back on.

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  10. Those are gorgeous pages! I'm so impressed with you scrapping every day; I don't think I could manage that.

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  11. The pages are just gorgeous Viv. I love that you included the letter to your Nan and some of your own Christmas cards. I've seen so many blogs doing JYC this year and they are all so different and lovely. I think I will try and take part next year too. Very inspiring.

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  12. Hi Viv! Such a great idea and brilliantly executed. This is a treasure!

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  13. What a wonderful idea! And you've done each page so well. I wish someone had done this for me.. or could do one for my boys :)

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