It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year (Almost)

It's ALMOST my most wonderful time of the year. There'll be much mistletoeing, And hearts will be glowing, When loved ones are nearrrrr. It's the most wonderful time of the yearrrrrrrrrrrr.


Disclaimer: when I mention Christmas, I am not excluding your beliefs or celebrations. I am simply expressing my own. In my perfect world, if we were to cross on the street, I would say "Merry Christmas" and you would say "Happy Hanukkah"/"Happy Kwanzaa"/"Happy Solstice" and so forth. In my perfect world the fighting would stop for a moment of peace to celebrate the season, like Garth Brooks sings about it his song "Belleau Wood" also known as "The Solider Song" (lyrics here). Just wanted to let you know I consider this blog a "safe place" where you are free to practice your beliefs and not be judged.


So, you may be wondering, Why on earth am I bringing up the Christmas Holiday season now? Probably because it's almost here. Before you know it we'll be cooking up thanksgiving turkey birds, exchanging greeting cards with one another, making cookies, enjoying family and friends around the festive family dinner table, caroling, going to see the festive light displays and celebrating our reason for the season.

Which means it's time to start planning. I know, CRAZY, right? We are big gift exchangers in my family and trying to figure out what I am going to get people has always been a challenge. I definitely need a head start and I don't really like crazy holiday crowds (I would rather stay home the day after Thanksgiving then get caught in the mobs looking for deals). We also need to figure out who is going to host which holiday and when we can fly back east to visit my family.

But honestly? The real reason I brought this Christmas subject up today is I am shopping for Christmas papers for my December Daily/Journal Your Christmas 2009 Scrapbook Mini Album. Last year I followed along with both Ali Edward's and her journey on the December Daily documenting adventure. I also signed up for Shimelle's Journal Your Christmas class, which delivers wonderful prompts, thoughtfulness and insight into this magical time of year. Sign up here. More information here.

A bonus about Journal Your Christmas, you can take it again for free in following years, so I will be participating again this year. Last year I told things from my perspective, this year I will be focusing on my husband's perspective (which seems to be a theme this fall/winter season). Throughout this blog post, I have been sharing pictures of my album from last year. If you would like to see the whole thing, click here.

So this weekend, I am hoping to shop for some of Little Yellow Bicycle's Holiday line to go with the Websters Pages I already bought. I'm not sure yet what I am going to be doing for the actual album cover itself. I like the cover from last year, but I am eyeballing the album in the Little Yellow Bicycle line, although if I can't put my hands on it locally, I'll probably go back to the same etsy vendor from last year and buy the same type of album.

One more random thought about holiday albums. I store my Christmas 2008 album with all of our regular Christmas decorations supplies. That means it's tucked away and forgotten about until we pull out the decroations and then it's a time of happy enjoyment and reminiscing. I plan to display the album for others to enjoy and compare to this year. I also plan on doing the same with the 2009 album in the future.

Are you thinking about the upcoming holiday season? Excited? Not ready? Not even thinking about it? Buying papers and supplies for a holiday mini album? Making Christmas cards? Or just wondering what on earth to do this year?