Beating the After Holiday Blues
I always feel a certain letdown after the holidays are over. I admit it – I am a Christmas person. I love everything about the holidays. I love the music. I love the lights. I love the schmaltzy Christmas movies. I admit to getting teary-eyed watching some of the television commercials. I even love the crowds at the mall because there is a feeling of anticipation in the air that you just don’t get any other time of year. Harried sales clerks still manage a smile and a “Have a good holiday” (although, these days I notice they are a little careful about what they say because of the fear of being politically incorrect). From Halloween on I am caught up in a flurry of activity: shopping, baking, working on homemade gifts and most important, spending time with family and friends.
Then comes January and it seems like the warmth of December is replaced by a stark, cold, white light as I struggle to get back to a somewhat normal routine. I’ve discovered that one way to combat this general feeling of ennui is to go through the photos I took over the holidays and begin to organize them for scrapbooking. I find myself smiling at the picture of my delighted granddaughter as she opens that one gift I found that wasn’t on her letter to Santa but that I just knew she would love. Or the photo of everyone standing around the piano singing Christmas carols. And, thanks to a great photo, we’ll always remember the sight of my 18-year-old grandson, who wants to study cooking at the Cordon Bleu school, as he works under the tutelage of his uncle to prepare Christmas Eve dinner to the adulation of their family.
By going through my photos early in the new year, I get to relive some of the best memories and ensure that those memories will be preserved for years to come by documenting them in a scrapbook. While the feelings of each captured moment are still fresh in my mind, I journal the photos, describing the funny, poignant things that happened, details that you may not get from just looking at the photo. Even if I don’t have the time to put them into a scrapbook right then, I write my journaling on a Post-it note on the back of each photo.
So, don’t wait to organize your holiday photos. In years to come, your written thoughts on the memories of this holiday season will mean much to those who come after you.
I always feel a certain letdown after the holidays are over. I admit it – I am a Christmas person. I love everything about the holidays. I love the music. I love the lights. I love the schmaltzy Christmas movies. I admit to getting teary-eyed watching some of the television commercials. I even love the crowds at the mall because there is a feeling of anticipation in the air that you just don’t get any other time of year. Harried sales clerks still manage a smile and a “Have a good holiday” (although, these days I notice they are a little careful about what they say because of the fear of being politically incorrect). From Halloween on I am caught up in a flurry of activity: shopping, baking, working on homemade gifts and most important, spending time with family and friends.
Then comes January and it seems like the warmth of December is replaced by a stark, cold, white light as I struggle to get back to a somewhat normal routine. I’ve discovered that one way to combat this general feeling of ennui is to go through the photos I took over the holidays and begin to organize them for scrapbooking. I find myself smiling at the picture of my delighted granddaughter as she opens that one gift I found that wasn’t on her letter to Santa but that I just knew she would love. Or the photo of everyone standing around the piano singing Christmas carols. And, thanks to a great photo, we’ll always remember the sight of my 18-year-old grandson, who wants to study cooking at the Cordon Bleu school, as he works under the tutelage of his uncle to prepare Christmas Eve dinner to the adulation of their family.
By going through my photos early in the new year, I get to relive some of the best memories and ensure that those memories will be preserved for years to come by documenting them in a scrapbook. While the feelings of each captured moment are still fresh in my mind, I journal the photos, describing the funny, poignant things that happened, details that you may not get from just looking at the photo. Even if I don’t have the time to put them into a scrapbook right then, I write my journaling on a Post-it note on the back of each photo.
So, don’t wait to organize your holiday photos. In years to come, your written thoughts on the memories of this holiday season will mean much to those who come after you.
For more scrapbooking ideas or for help in creating a scrapbook of your own holiday memories go to http://treasuredmemoriestogo.com/
Tags: ancestry, ancestry ancestry keepsake Christmas creating keepsakes family memories holiday memories holidays mementos memories perserving memories photo journal preserving memories preserving photos recording va, Christmas memories, family, friends, journaling holiday memories, photos, scrapbooking
You can comment below, or link to this permanent URL from your own site.
