Christmas Scrapbooking Tradition

For my girlfriends who asked me about this crazy tradition of mine here you go....

Each year I get together with my daughters and daughter-in-laws during the Christmas holidays and we spend a day together making 12 scrapbook pages.  Here's how it works- I pre-design the 12 pages during the months of October-November. The pages are by necessity fairly generic, I don't include a title on some of the pages (such as this one), but allow the girls to choose their own title later as we build them. As I make the original I go ahead and cut the paper for each families page and gather the embellishments needed to complete the page and stick it all in a zip lock bag. On the outside of the bag I write on a sticky note which stamps I used, which inks, and any other pertinent info. Then when we actually build the page it comes together in about 30 minutes (depending on the difficulty). I really try to keep the designs simple (not easy for me!!) On this page I used Studio Calico's Sock Hop paper kit (actually it was the Bobby Socks and Penny Loafers add ons) and two super cute stamp sets from Close To My Heart (It's your Day and Capture the Date). It was fast and very easy to make and won't take very long at all to duplicate. I left an area on the left side beneath the filmstrip photos for a title and added the cute tag for journaling on. The hand stitching is OPTIONAL -so don't freak out girls! These pages are used on yearly calendars. I make the calendar template on my computer in a 12" x 12" format and include all the birthdays, anniversary's etc. Several years ago my husband built each family a cute wooden calender holder that accommodates the 12" x 12" format. The assignment for the coming year is for each mom (or Dad) to take pictures at the end of each month to be used on the page for the coming month (or they may just use photos they already have!)  I always include photo placement paper that is attached with re-positional glue so it is easy to remove and replace with the photo - that way my kids who live out of state don't forget where the photos go. That's it. It's a really fun tradition, a little work for me, but so worth it! If nothing else I know each family will have a scrapbook which has at least one recorded event for each month of the year.