The other day, a friend of mine was telling me how she used to make a photo scrapbook each year. She was lamenting over the fact she had not done it since before her youngest (now five) was born.
Before I could regret never having done one, I realized that I had. In fact, each year since we had kids, we've done one. It's one of our favorite holiday traditions.
This tradition actually started before I had children. My husband's neice was born about eight months before he and I started dating. Her first Christmas, her parents created a photo calendar for the grandparents. You know the kind I mean. Each month, there's a collage of images from the previous year.
Well, when my kids were born, we created a bunch of these as well. One for each set of grandparents, one for each great-grandmother, and one for us, of course.
Over the years, we have lost some family members and others no longer want them. However, we still create two calendars each year: one for Grampa and one for us.
My kids love these calendars. They stand on a chair in the kitchen to examine all the pictures each month. They love remembering when and where we took each photo.
But at the end of the year, we don't throw them away. They have a special home between two bookcases. I can't tell you the number of times I've seen a kid sitting on the floor pouring through the old calendars. It's their version of a photo album.
I don't know if we will continue these calendars when our children are grown, but it is definitely a tradition I hope they will continue when they have families of their own.
If you have not received my newsletters from earlier this week, feel free to read about my other family traditions on my website. or follow the conversation on Bluesky, Facebook, or Instagram.
In the meantime,
Choose Your Own Path Stories
I know I have paused this story once before, but to be honest, I am a little overwhelmed at the moment. As much as I love providing my readers with new content, my family needs to come first. We are very busy preparing for the holidays and I simply have not had time to write. As much as I enjoy working on this project, I will have to put it aside for now. Perhaps it will return in the new year.
Free Books
Brookings Forever A sweet beach romance short story
Beach, Sun and Love
I thought I had it all figured out in high school.
I planned to spend the remainder of the summer in peace but unfortunately, May has other ideas – she wants me to get the full high school experience. Whatever that means. Since she’s the only friend I got, I guess I have to go along with her.
There’s nothing worse than being surrounded by high school stereotypes. Or at least, it seemed that way until I met HIM.
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