A Thoughtful Gift

I don't know about you, but Christmas is a mixed bag of emotions for me. Not the true meaning of Christmas... I find the celebration of Jesus' birth peaceful, spiritual and graceful. It's the commercial aspect of Christmas that is sometimes fun and sometimes stressful.

You know what I mean - finding just the right gift for someone can be a lot of work... a lot of soul searching, a lot of shopping, a lot of guessing. But then finding that gift can be quite satisfying and watching them open it - and enjoy it - can make it all worth while. I realize the whole process is just part of the season.

But being on the receiving end of gifts is sometimes just as hard. I'm at the point of my life when, if someone asks me what I want for Christmas, I have to think pretty hard. I consider myself very lucky in life to not really want (and definitely not need) anything desperately. And then there are the kids - anyone else looking for ideas other than MORE TOYS to give your kids? We're a nation of excess and I'm coming to an age/time in my life where it's starting to bother me.

So why would I make a blog entry encouraging you to buy more "stuff"? Because I think the key to finding a good gift is finding one that is practical but has meaning and use. For me, I'd like a gift that I can utilize for my hobby, which can essentially be good therapy for me and one that benefits my whole family. I have someone in my CM unit that has a signature line on her e-mail that says "a birth certificate proves you were born, a death certificate proves you died, a scrapbook proves you lived." I love that.

So this holiday season, of course I can recommend several Creative Memories items that might work for you or someone you're shopping for... even if they don't scrapbook (photo-safe storage, for example)! But I encourage you to do the same for everyone, whether they quilt, fish, or golf... or you can donate - give your time, talent or treasure. Improving the quality of someone's life would be a great way to honor the heart of the season.

Thanksgiving spread

I have to admit, I'm horrible at taking Thanksgiving pictures. The few that I do have, spaced sporadically through the years, are ones that other people took and they're usually just of people lounging around on couches or sitting around a table with food in their mouths. Someone took one a few years ago of the "kids" table, just when I am bending down to serve my children, cutting turkey meat or something, and all the picture showed was my big ol' back end and half of a cousin's little face. That one made it to the garbage.

The sad things is, I LOVE Thanksgiving! I love that a full day is dedicated to being thankful for our blessings. A full day dedicated to being with family. A full day of filling up on yummy food. And I can start listening to Christmas music... guilt-free. The entire holiday is beautiful... just maybe not one designed for a full-page scrapbooking spread.

Someone from my CM Consultant circle sent this to our entire unit, some great ideas to chronicle this holiday that I thought I'd share with you.

(courtesy of Donna Baker)
1)Take a CM calendar page and write a blessing in each day's square. Put it in a Fridge Frame to keep it in sight and take turns who in the family gets to list their praise each day. (You can do it on your kitchen calendar but it's wonderful to add to your album- could use a ruled or regular page)

2)Each family member could write a journal block once a week of all their blessings- this is so fun to read in later years as it gives a snapshot of your life at the time (winning the game at school, passing a test, warm weather in November, who won the election, the dog is not sick now...)

3)Make a Thanksgiving page, or a whole Thanksgiving album to pass after the BIG dinner for EVERYONE to say what they are thankful for. Or you can hand out blocks of ruled paper and put them in the album later. Keep the page decorations simple, the words are so wonderful.

If you have ideas for Thanksgiving pages, post them here - we'd love to hear them!
Happy Holidays!

Weekend Retreats

I have been lucky enough this past month to have had two scrapbooking "get-aways". First was my Croptoberfest in Sunriver and the second was a beach weekend with a couple of my friends. These weekend trips have been invaluable for several reasons:
1- It's the only time I seem to get a big chunk of scrapbooking done
2- It's great to share ideas about albums, scrapbooking, etc. with others
3- I soooo badly need the "girl time" (grown-up girls, that is... I get enough of little girls every day!)

By the end of the year, I actually plan how I'm going to get "caught-up" in my albums, based on these weekend retreats. And, I'm realizing it's not just me. These seem to be so refreshing for everyone that I think we just need to plan more of them! I know it's hard to find weekends that you can get away from your families and work, so if enough of them are offered, hopefully you can find one or two that work for you. So my New Years Resolution (two months early!) will be to plan more of these in the future.

On another note, I've been thinking about the POWER that scrapbooks can have over us emotionally. Last week was my oldest daughter's 7th birthday. So, being a little reminiscent, I decide to take out her baby album and flip through it. Wow, those pictures did a number on me! I DO NOT want any more kids, but after looking back at her album I was reconsidering... (don't worry, haven't looked at it again for a week and I'm back to being fine with the two kids I've got!) But what power those pictures and stories had over me. I told my husband and he very quickly took the book away from me! However, he started looking through it and started feeling the same way.

We've got to lock these books up.

Okay, maybe not that drastic, but it certainly reminded me that what I'm doing is important, it stirs up emotion, it brings back memories and it's there whenever I need to look back.