Monday Memory Makers: A Christmas Memory Book

Okay, I know it's a month past Christmas but I wanted to write this post for those of you who might want to record your Christmas memories from 2010 before you forget many of the details. If you don't remember the details, perhaps you can work on finding a book to use for Christmas 2011 during the coming year.

Can you tell me what you did for Christmas three years ago? Who you celebrated it with? What special memories you made that year? How about seven years ago? The Christmas holidays are a special time for so many of us and we make wonderful memories each holiday season. However, unless we document the details, many of these memories will soon be forgotten.

I am not a person who likes to journal. Even with the best intentions, every journal I've ever started has failed within a week or two. This Christmas Memory Maker is a type of journaling but what makes it so great is you only have to do it once per year! 

I got married one week before Christmas in 2004. One of the most special wedding gifts I received was a book titled "Our Family Christmas." It had a little tag attached that said, "The elegant place to record ten years of holiday happenings and highlights...Joy."

"Our Family Christmas" has enough room to record 10 family Christmas'. You write the year in yourself so anyone can use the book starting in any year. The first page is a spot for your family Christmas card photo. The following pages consist of little phrases that you finish filling in to record your Christmas memories. They say things like, 

"The Night Before Christmas..."

"Our Christmas Eve Dinner..."

"On Christmas Day..."

"Was it a white Christmas?"

"Santa Sightings?"

"Our Christmas Feast..."

"Favorite gifts we gave and received..."

"Holiday Highlights..."

"We Welcomed the New Year..."

"Wishes for the New Year..."

...and a few other things. 

I have faithfully taken an evening or two to each holiday season to record our Christmas memories. After the holidays, I print a few photos to help remember that year as well and paste them into the book. I try to take pictures of our tree and Christmas decorations each year. I also make sure to put in our Christmas card photo as well as our Christmas letter (provided I wrote one that year). 

I can easily look back and remember what my husband and I did on our first Christmas together while on our honeymoon in Whistler, Canada. I remember details I surely would have forgotten of when my daughter was born the day after Christmas. I remember the family members who traveled to see us or when we traveled to see them. I remember where we got our Christmas tree from and if we cut it down with friend or picked it up at a tree lot. These little details are precious memories and always bring a smile to my face when I read back through them.

Have I convinced you it's worth it to record your holiday memories? I have good news and bad news. Let's start with the bad news. The book I used, "Our Family Christmas" is out of print. I looked to try to buy another one but have been unable to find it in print anywhere. 

The good news? You can easily make your own book using a nice journal. The great thing about this is you can customize it to yourself and only include the questions you want. You can also make room for whatever pictures you'd like to use. 

You might be able to find something similar to what I used on Amazon. I haven't had a chance to look at all the books listed, but if you search for "Our Family Christmas." You'll find ideas similar to what I used.

Do you do anything to record your family holiday memories? Will you start a Christmas book to record your memories? 

Monday Memory Makers: Digital Photobooks

My Yearly Shutterfly Photobooks

I love taking pictures and have a very good method to organize and actually use my pictures. So many people take tons of digital photos and then never do anything with them. They just sit in huge files on their computers. I create yearly Shutterfly photobooks to remember our family memories. Even though I have a 2 month old and a 3 year old, I am totally caught up on my photobooks all the way through the end of 2010.

I list details on the title page and throughout the book.

Be sure to include details about people and places.

I create a Shutterfly.com photobook for our family every year recording what I want to remember. I start from January and go through the end of December. I always put a family photo on the front cover and on the title page, list the town(s) and state(s) we lived in that year. I include as many details as possible (names of friends, a few stories from my blog). It's amazing how easy it is to forget the names of people you used to hang out with 10 years down the road. I work on my photobooks in the evenings during down time or while watching movies with my husband. I can crank out a 90 page photobook in 1-2 weeks if needed. However, I try to continue to work on them throughout the year so I don't have to do so much at one time.

A stack of 8 books and it's only 4-5 inches tall

My 2010 book

Large and small photos

My photobooks are organized in a time-line. I start with my first folders in January and make either one page or a spread depending on the event. Occasionally, I’ll even use three or four pages if it’s a big event with lots of pictures. Most of my books end up being approximately 90 pages or so and use 300-500 pictures.
I love photobooks instead of scrapbooks because they take up so much less space and hold so many photos. I am also able to re-size and crop the pictures directly in the book without having to order/or print expensive re-sized photos or ordering photos that I don’t end up using. I can select the best pictures and try them out in many different layouts without it costing me anything until I finish the book. I can pull up my photobook online in a minute and work on it for ten minutes before dinner without making a mess. It’s all contained on the computer. When you finish a photobook, it can be ordered by yourself or other family members can order copies for themselves as well if you share it. Just imagine how great it would be to create a photobook for your grandparents 50^th wedding anniversary. Anyone who wanted a copy could order one or contribute to the book. I find that photobooks are very thrifty because they don’t require me to purchase lots of scrapbook paper and embellishments. For ME, they are so practical and easy. I like things simple looking and although I am sometimes limited in how much space I have to write on or on the limited layouts available, I’ll never return to scrapbooking because photobooks just make so much sense to me.

Be sure to record stories you want to remember.

I even wrote about redecorating my daughter's room.

You’ll find that photobooks also make great gifts for family members. You can make some little brag books for grandparents that don’t take much time and don’t cost a lot but will be treasured.
In order to get the best deal, I often will finish a book and wait until Shutterfly has good deals or free book offers. Using this method, I've purchased most of my books for about 60% off the full purchase price. You are able to stack deals at Shutterfly so you can use a coupon for 10% off, a free 20 page book, a 30% off sale and get free shipping. If you don't need the book right away, finish it and leave it in your account until you get a deal that works for you. Look at retailmenot.com to find deals that may not be listed on Shutterfly.
If you want to get the most out of your photos it can be very simple. Organize them, make photobooks and then be thrifty and wait for a good deal to come along before ordering them. Family and friends love looking through the books and you might inspire someone else to create their own books after they see how great your book looks!

Another story documented.

What do you do with your photos? Do you scrapbook or make digital photobooks? What do you like/dislike about the method you’ve chosen? If you use digital scrapbooking, what program or company do you use to create your books?

***Be sure to check back tomorrow to enter a great giveaway!***

This post was written on my own with no sponsorship from Shutterfly. I received nothing for writing about Shutterfly photobooks. They are just a product I think are really great and will help simplify your photos while allowing you to be thrifty at the same time. 

Monday Memory Makers: Christmas Cards

Do you get lots of Christmas cards each year from friends and family? Do you feel bad just throwing them in the trash each year? Here's a simple idea of how you can save some of those cards to help you remember friends from over the years.

Each year, when Christmas is over, I collect all the Christmas cards I received and pull out the cards that I received with pictures of my friends and family. I do not save all the letters and generic cards; only the ones with pictures of people I know on them. I then file the Christmas photo cards in a simple box with a divider marking the year separating each year. Someday, I'd like to find a prettier box but for now, it's just a simple filing box.

Before I file the pictures, I try to make sure the year and the names of the individuals are either printed on the photo or written on the back by me. It's so easy to forget the year and even a friend's name a few years down the road. When I design my family Christmas card, I intentionally try to make sure it is a family picture with all our names and the year printed on the card.

This Christmas card box is not something I pull out and look through all the time but it is fun to look back through past years and remember the friends we were close to or how much our friends and family members have changed and matured over the years. I usually also put baby announcements, school pictures and wedding announcements in the Christmas card box if they have personal photos on them.

Do you save Christmas cards? Do you have any tips to share about making/saving Christmas cards?