Christmas Art and Memories + Downloadable Printables
Do you do December Daily/December Documented/Holidaily?
I do. More accurately, I start each project in December and generally it’s July or August or the following November before I pick it back up and finish it. My version of this project has no rules and no deadlines!
Some thoughts and answers (for which nobody asked me) to a few questions about holiday scrapbooking:
- Should I document all of December or just through December 25? I think you should do whatever you want. (My answer to each of these questions is, “You should do whatever you want.”) I tend to do the entire month because my holiday feelings don’t stop at midnight on December 25th. Also:
- I feel like my Christmas celebrating starts right after Thanksgiving. Do I have to wait until December to do December Daily? I like to document the holidays, which for me is from Thanksgiving to New Year’s. My December Daily is definitely late-November-to-early-January. This particular year, the first time I saw the red cups at Starbucks was a full week before Thanksgiving and that’s when I started.
- Do I have to document every day? Nope. This is my third year to do DD and the first year, I made cute calendars numbers for each page. That lasted about five days. And it was fine.
- I don’t have enough stories for all 25 (or 31) days. This year I realized that I can do anything I want and so can you! Tell stories out of order. Combine a couple of days’ worth of stories into one layout. Tell a Christmas story from when I was a kid. I can do a spread about my favorite Christmas carols. You can use a picture of your town’s Christmas decorations or your favorite window display or favorite Christmas candy.
- You get to make it your own. Wilna Furstenberg is a scrapbook designer. She does this stuff for a living, and her December album is 12 Days of Christmas. She says trying to do more than twelve pages makes her tired. Make it your own and do it however you want to. It’s your book, and it matters.
- I have to do all kinds of Christmas activities so I’ll have things to scrapbook. You really don’t. I had surgery on November 28 and didn’t leave the house for a week and a half afterward. I missed the town Christmas parade and to date, haven’t done any Christmas baking. I’m still December Daily-ing because I want to.
- I don’t have kids/my kids are grown and not at home; can I still do December Daily? Yes! Do it! Document how you feel, how you love seeing poinsettias this time of year. Write about how Christmas Shoes is the worst Christmas song ever and why you feel like the Grinch is misunderstood. Your feelings and your thoughts are fascinating and interesting; let them shine.
A few more resources:
Where it all began: Ali Edwards
The Scrap Gals have several podcasts about December Daily. One of the episodes has 75 (!) ideas for story and photo prompts if you’re looking for ideas.
There are Pinterest boards galore about December Daily, December Documented, and Holidaily.
P.S. 
I painted some holiday designs to use in my December Daily and I thought you may like them, too.
Save to your computer and print. Then you can do all kinds of things with them!
- frame and hang up
- use as a foundation page
- put it on the refrigerator
- re-size it for a tip-in in your planner
- use as a envelope liner for Christmas cards
Read More
Fa La La & Hello Holidays & Christmas Swirls Downloadable Printables
Right-click to save to your computer. Enjoy!
