Christmas Journal

This is officially my first post about Christmas, although Christmas has been on my brain for awhile.  I just love Christmas, I already have over half my shopping done!  My mom-in-law (Kathy) is done every year by Thanksgiving, so I try to keep up with her and do the same!:)  It really does make December much more enjoyable.  The only drawback is missing the fun shopping atmosphere in December, and those amazing sales the few weeks before Christmas.   I feel like I miss out a bit,  but really, with Amazon.com, I can usually get the best deal anyway, and the more I can stay out of the stores the better!

I wanted to share with you one of my MOST favorite gifts.  My birthday is around Thanksgiving, so the timing of this gift was perfect.  It is a homemade Holiday Journal.  My amazing sis-in- law (Wendy) put it together for me in 2004, and I have been using it ever since.  It is so much fun to grab it each year and look through all the memories and plans.  Newsletters of Christmas past, pics of my girls with Santa, cherished memories, lists of what I bought each family member–pretty much everything is in one place and it is so handy!

She took a 3 ring binder, put some pretty Christmas paper in the front and back of it, and filled it with tab dividers.  Here are the tabs she included:

–Calendar -its very handy to have the month of December and January in one place, to refer to when out and about, or to check what gift you need by what date, etc.

–Dates–shipping deadlines, greeting cards mailed, departure/arrival dates if you are traveling, party dates, etc

–Gift List— recipient, gift ideas, final Gifts

–Christmas Card List–who you sent one to, who sent one to you

–Kids Wish Lists–a very important list indeed!

–Gifts Received–makes thank yous easier, and I need all the help I can get!

–Holiday Memories–my favorite! Old traditions, new traditions, new ornaments or decorations, where we went, who we saw, what we did, favorite memory, funniest thing that happened, etc.

–Crafts And Decorations–how the tree was decorated, color themes.

–Recipes–what you made, what you wanted to make, favorite cookie recipes, tradition recipes (like my grandma’s pfeffernusse cookies!)

She also included a zipper pouch for store flyers, catalog pages and coupons.  She filled it with plastic sleeves that are great to keep the paper protected and to slide in different memorabilia.