I just love this quote by Karl Barth, “Joy is the simplest form of gratitude.”
I love the notion that one way I can express my gratitude to God just by being happy in my life {imperfections and all!}. It really spoke to me at Thanksgiving and I thought it would be the perfect inspiration for a December Daily scrapbook.
This is the first time I’ve made a December Daily, but it’s really nothing more than a mini-album focused on the 25 days of Christmas. Tripp happened to be out of town for several days a couple of weeks ago, so I dug out all the Christmas-y scrapbooks paper, stickers, and doo-dads I could find in my stash and put this mini-album album together while sitting at the bar in the kitchen and watching all the TV shows that Tripp hates. And the idea for a December Daily is to get the album made ahead of time, so that all you have to do is add a few pictures and bit & pieces here and there throughout the month.
I made the cover of the album out of 6 x 6 chipboard and then the pages are a combination of my Christmas themed scrapbook paper (a paper pad by Paper Studio), envelopes, tags, and manila pockets (7 gypsies). Here are the blank pages.
The other thing I did while making my December Daily was brainstorm 25 things that mean Christmas to me and/or things that bring me joy during the Christmas season. This list is my basic starting point…the things I put in the album might change (I kind of expect that) and that’s totally OK.
- lights
- decorations
- ornaments
- carols
- faith
- snow (? if we have it)
- family Christmas card pic
- food
- parties/festivities
- hope
- poinsettias
- charity
- anticipation
- homemade
- holly jolly
- comfort and joy
- frantic? shopping?
- wrapping
- coming home
- angels & hark the herald
- simplicity
- movies
- friendship
- night before Christmas
- family
My hope is that this album will capture the season of Christmas and the way we as a family experience it. But I also hope that in the process that it will help me slow down and be more mindful – really experience the joy of the season. One small token of my eternal gratitude.
Peace, Kelly
Tobi-Dawne says
OMG! I wish I’d seen this earlier. I’d have made sure I took a photograph today with something besides my super crappy camera phone. LOL Oh well. I’m DEFINITELY making one of these for next year. Thanks for the inspiration. 🙂
Minding My Nest says
thank you! it was a fun little project! 🙂
Lara says
Thanks for stopping by my little blog and commenting on my DD! This is amazing, I love it!
Minding My Nest says
thank you so much lara!