Monday 18 November 2013

Journalling Christmas 2012...

Is is still too early to talk about Christmas?! I don't think so... I'm a huge Christmas fan, I love everything about the festive season - the preparations, the family time, the joy, the food, the giving, the hustle and bustle, the shopping, the traditions, the church-going, the prayers, the smells and sights and sounds. I could go on! For the last two years, Shimelle's annual Journal Your Christmas class has been an important part of my seasonal celebration. In 2011, thanks to lovely long holidays from university, coupled with being very organised, I was able to complete a daily entry in my journal, and LOVED the result. You can see my 2011 journal here, here and here.

Last year was a different story. I had just started in my first proper teaching job, and had applied to complete my teaching diploma (involving mountains of paperwork and planning, along with an impending inspector visit). I had no album, few festive supplies and extremely limited time. But I still wanted to journal my Christmas, so I decided on a whim to chop up some old Christmas and non-Christmas papers into 4x6 inch rectangles, and gather some assorted supplies into a pizza box for my own little kit.
Completing the album turned out to be an even bigger challenge than I'd anticipated, given the time constraints and pressures of a new job. Even during the holidays, I didn't dedicate the hours I'd hoped to catch up. The cards I did complete though, I popped into an old photo album in the expectation that sometime, I would get the chance to pull together my 2012 album.
And so, a couple of weeks ago, when I began to get excited about journalling Christmas 2013, I rooted out those cards. I found a little 4x6 photo album for €3 in a photo shop, pulled out photos from last December and made a simple cover. At last, almost a year later, it was finished!

Honestly, even though it's simple, even though I didn't respond to many of the prompts, even though it's short, I love how it turned out and I'm so glad I finished it. I like that it reflects and captures the unique little details of my Christmas last year, from preparing for a Christmas musical to working Christmas eve in the butchers, to visiting the famous English markets in Cork with the hanging plucked turkeys. I love that I have a record of these moments, and looking at my 2012 album, I already so excited for this year!
I am hoping to be more organised this December and January. I ordered my album at the weekend, along with treating myself to some new Christmas supplies (excitement!). After much deliberation, I went with a 6x8 album with divided page protectors. I like the idea that I can do some quick entries and pop in photos on the busy days, but I'll have more space for journalling on the 6x8 pages (I tend to write A LOT once I get started, and fitting in my sprawling memories and journalling was the one thing I didn't like about the small size last year). Now I'm just so excited for my parcel to arrive so I can get preparing and cutting and assembling my own little kit of supplies with things I have in my stash mixed in with a few new bits and pieces. December 1st 2013... Bring it on! :D

xxx

P.S. I have put the entries in collages rather than showing you single photos of each page, because it would take FOREVER to upload them at decent quality without compressing too much! Plus you'd probably be totally bored of scrolling down! :D