Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms. ~ 1 Peter 4:10

Monday, November 23, 2009

My Favorite Time of the Year


I'm so excited! I know Thanksgiving hasn't arrived yet, but the holidays are just around the corner and I'm already enjoying the early preparation in anticipation of what is to come! I'm big on nurturing special family memories and traditions and since I'm an artist and scrapbooker I love creating during this season! I've been listening to Christmas music and getting a head start on my holiday planning and projects! I find that the earlier I start the more I can relax and enjoy this time of the year. Here are several fun ideas and helpful links that you may enjoy as well!
  • The Christmas Station: 103.7 Lite FM: 24 hour holiday music. If you are in the Dallas/Fort Worth area you can listen on the radio. If not, you can listen online.

  • OrganizedChristmas.com - Simplify Your Holidays and Celebrate the Season: I found this to be a very helpful website that has everything you need to easily organize for the holidays and allow your family to enjoy them with less stress and more time for what is most important during the season. You'll find great holiday plans you can follow, wonderful articles, and creative ideas. I'm setting up my Christmas planner and following the Christmas Countdown plan. This plan officially started the last week of October, but you can jump in at any time and get going. Adapt it and make it work for your needs!

  • December Daily: Ali Edwards' holiday mini album project. I am so in love with the idea of this! December Daily is a mini album you create the foundation of before the holidays and then add to each day of December until Christmas. It is a mini journal/scrapbook that documents the special times you have throughout the season. This isn't meant to be a stressful, "how in the world can I get this done?", project. It needs to be a fun, stress reducing, holiday activity that allows you to capture and remember the wonderful traditions, activities, and yes, even mundane, everyday happenings during the month. It will be so fun to look back through the albums each year at Christmas and remember the holidays before. I've been enjoying working on my pages for the album, doing a few at a time whenever I have a few spare moments. Here is a little sneak peak:

Go here to learn more about Ali's amazing ideas and philosophy behind the project. I hope you'll join me in the fun and share your album as well!


  • Fit-To-Be-Scrapped Holiday Letters E-course at Big Picture Scrapbooking: I just enrolled in this fun, inexpensive, self paced class in which you learn new, out of the box ideas for your holiday Christmas card letter. I create an annual letter each year and I'm so excited to be inspired by others and get some new ideas, as well as get some tips on getting my letter done quickly and easily.

I'll be back soon to share some of our family traditions and fun ideas for kids, as well as more of my December Daily album. Have you started doing anything holiday related yet?

Happy creating!! :)

Jennifer