All I want for Christmas

We have never been a BIG all out Christmas kind of people in the traditional presents and turkey dinner sense. When I was a kid we didn't have any family around, so normally it was just mom, dad and the 5 of us kids. I remember years when we didn't have a tree, or when we elected to give up Christmas gifts all together to do something special for someone else. When we did do gifts under the tree, usually we got pajamas, maybe a Christmas outfit and some books, maybe a Lego set. We never woke up early and opened gifts at the crack of dawn in our pajamas - the rule was reading the Christmas story, a big family breakfast, clean up, everyone combed & dressed, THEN present opening - usually late morning or early afternoon. The rest of the day would be spent doing giant puzzles, eating chili & sweets and playing games. Not so traditional, but great memories of family time together.

My husband and I have been together for over 10 years and married for almost 6 of those. A few years ago we officially stopped buying each other Christmas & birthday gifts, opting instead to spend as much money as we could possibly afford (ok maybe more than we could afford...possibly delaying retirement by a few years) to travel. In between we have snuck a few special gifts under the tree - like the DSLR camera that I got for him a few years ago, or the photo book he made for me of a trip we took to Germany (aka my favourite place to go), but in general we have stuck to the plan pretty well.

This is my baby's second Christmas (hard to believe - although last year he was just 4 weeks old, and all mama wanted from Santa was 8 hours of uninterrupted sleep and a pinch of her sanity back) and even though he won't have any memories for a few more years, I find myself thinking about what kind of traditions I want for my own family. They will be different than my own, as we have lots of family around, and no plans of moving, and I'm excited for my kids to grow up with their cousins. I love putting up the tree and listening to Harry Connick Jr. (but not his most recent holiday album), and Christmas lights outside (even if we just left them up from last year...). I definitely would like to keep the story of the first Christmas, and I think a few gifts for the kids to open will make their way under my tree. Food will also play a part, seeing how I love it so. Luckily I don't really have to come up with any big decisions probably for another year or two, but I'm excited to start making our very own Christmas traditions and memories with our little family!

A journey of a thousand miles...

I admit it. I'm a procrastinator. I'm actually legitimately busy a lot of the time, which makes it very easy for me to make satisfactory excuses to myself about the procrastinating, but the bottom line is that even if I won the lottery and didn't have to work, cook, clean or brush my own teeth, I probably still would not get certain things done. I think this is pretty much true of most people - you do what you want to do, and think of as many reasons as possible to avoid that stuff you just can't get excited about. For example, in three weeks, it will be my sixth wedding anniversary (?!?!?!) and my wedding scrapbook has exactly one double page spread, which I did not even make. It is not that I am not excited to HAVE a scrapbook - I would love to have it! It's just that I can't seem to get myself motivated to MAKE the scrapbook. Weirldy, it isn't that I hate doing it, I just don't love doing it the same way I love reading a book, laying around doing nothing, thinking etc.

So about 2 years ago when I came across digital photobooks, I thought that I had been saved from a life of shame devoid of demonstrable memories due to my inability to scrapbook. In the initial excitement, I did get about 5 of my own books done for various trips, but life got busier and it got harder and harder to keep up, and when the newness of it all wore off, it turns out digital photobooks share a lot of traits with actual scrapbooks, and there are a lot of the same, valid reasons for not doing them...

So we come to my subject today. I am not literally going anywhere (well, not until I go the Olympics in February and a cruise/Disneyland in March - YAY!! !@*(&@ more photobooks/scrapbooks to feel guilty about not doing!), but I am really trying to focus on getting key things done in a timely manner, by focusing on the small managable aspects. That ship has clearly sailed when it comes to my wedding, but my baby just turned one, and I think I'm ready to turn over a new leaf! So yesterday I started the Year One photobook project.

Holy crap did we take a lot of pictures of this kid!!! The box of photos and negatives from my wedding (I know, I think we were the last EVER real film shoot) are starting to look awefully appealing. I got through about the first month (about 10 pages...!!) and then the roadblocks began. Between two computers and 3 portable hard drives, I am starting to feel a little overwhelmed by the task of narrowing the book down to "only" 100 pages. My boy, if you're lucky I will have your book done by the time it's your turn to get married!