1st December: Journal Your Christmas

I love Christmas.  I really think it is my absolute favourite time of year and I include in that all the build up and preparations in November and then all the lovely Christmassy events and things that spring up during Advent in December. 

I have taken part in Shimelle's online class Journal Your Christmas for a number of years now, and for the last few years, I have taken part in blog form. While Journal Your Christmas is a class that helps you to make a scrapbook to record the festive season, writing a blog response really works for me.  After all, the class is really about journalling: recording memories and stories, and my blog helps me do just that.

Part of the reason blogging works so well for me is that December is often busy, leaving me short on scrapping time.  I love the festive atmosphere; it's a lovely time to see family and friends and whether that's heading out for an adventure or embracing a cosy evening in, I fully intend to live the season first and foremost, and not worry about keeping up with scrapbooking. Blogging allows me to relive and record the memories without having to invest loads of time.

And this year promises to be a good one; I have spent a cheerful November planning and arranging and plotting a lovely Christmas season. I have planned to go out for cocktails with friends, to have a DVD night in with the girls and even to try out curling for the first time (so hipster, darling). I'm looking forward to seeing the Nutcracker in the West End, and seeing the Year 7s at school put on a panto for the local retirement home. I want to get in the kitchen and bake apple cake and rocky road and ginger biscuits and I'm sure the evening we make Christmas cake with the Guides will prove...interesting. There are Christmas markets to explore both here and on the continent, craft projects to snuggle up with, a couple of mystery date nights planned with my new man (one for him, one for me, and an exciting prospect for our first Christmas of dating) and a trip up north to visit my lovely family.

I can't get enough of this Christmassy whirl of adventure. But I can make time to record memories and moments. I can take my camera everywhere and capture twinkles and sparkles. And by making time to jot down a few thoughts and share a few moments, I can keep those details alive and then scrapbook whenever I find the time.

Another reason that scrapbooking a daily page isn't the best system for me is that I'm a really slow scrapbooker.  And I like being that way; when I'm slow and fiddly and careful, I produce the pages that I like the most. But it means cracking out a regular page is not a skill I possess.  However, I do enjoy scrapbooking this time of year and fortunately for me, I have lots of photos and stories and memories recorded safely here on my blog to scrapbook, whenever I fancy it.

So this is my Christmas manifesto. And hopefully, the stories I capture this year will be there to scrapbook in future years. To me, that's a lovely, cosy thought.  Merry Christmas everyone, I hope you enjoy the season!

Kisses xxx

P.S. This post is part of a series I'm writing throughout December in response to Shimelle's scrapbooking class, Journal Your Christmas. By blogging each day, I hope to savour each and every lovely moment of the most wonderful time of the year, and have some great memories to look back on.