It’s almost time for the most magical time of the year. My favorite. I am not a fan of winter in general. I don’t celebrate any of the other national holidays with vigor. I don’t care for Valentine’s Day, Halloween or even Thanksgiving, really. I don’t mind any of them (well I am not a fan of all the scary stuff around Halloween.) I just don’t feel the need to go all out. I don’t feel motivated to make a big deal.
But that’s not true for Christmastime.
I am a bonafide fan of December. I’ve always loved the New Year. I’ve always loved twinkling lights. I’ve always loved Christmas Trees. There were bits and pieces of this season that I’ve cherished over my lifetime. But I firmly believe that this lovely little project has contributed widely to my love of the holiday season. Here are the things this little album has added into my life:
- It’s made me more intentional: More things happen because I plan them.
- It’s made me take more photos: I make a point to bring my camera, to pause to capture the moments.
- It’s made me more reflective: I take the time to journal my thoughts, print the photos, and put everything together every single night. This means I reflect daily.
- It’s made me more grateful: Reflecting daily almost always translates to huge amounts of gratitude.
- It’s made me more creative: I am guaranteed to spend some time doing something artsy/crafty every day in December.
How can you not love this project?
I always put my pre-pages together before the month but this year I found myself struggling with the idea. I was thinking maybe it’s better if I just wait until December and do it daily. Then I remembered how hard decision-making can be when you have too many choices and reminded myself that this helps narrow things down and make this project considerably more manageable. So I compromised and kept my pages pretty bare. This gives me a starting point but also gives me flexibility. (I’ve put in some pretty magazine pages in place of photos for now so it’s easier to see the page content.)
I’ve been doing a monthlong December project since 2007 which means this will be my tenth December album. Here’s to many many more.
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