Modern Memory Maker December Daily Project

Reposted from December, 2012:

After a long (extra long this year with that unusually early Thanksgiving Date!) holiday season, what do you remember about your experiences? What stories can you tell about the time you spent with friends and family? Parties, gift exchanges, cookie swaps? How about plumbing, electrical, or auto troubles? What stood out to you this year as unusual, funny, touching, or even aggravating.

How valuable are these memories? If you enjoy remembering the times, ask your self this question: How will I remember these precious moments next year? If the sum of your memory storage for the holidays is pictures on a memory card, an Instagram feed, or lists of statuses on Facebook I’d like to introduce you to something new, to you. That is the modern memory maker December Daily project created and led by Ali Edwards.

Want a way to remember the daily joys of the holiday season?

First of all, I say new to you because Ali (I hope I can call her by her first name) has been completing a record of daily events during December since 2007. Her premise is simply to document both the mundane moments and magnificent splendor of the days leading up to and including December holidays in a scrappy journally format. I found her blog and explanation of this project in 2010 and completed my first December Daily for 2010 the following spring.

The first year I quickly assembled a fully digital version of the modern memory keeping project, corralling pictures I took with the book in mind, and assembling scrapbook pages on my computer program. Let me just tell you that, my son LOVES this book. After the printer sent the book back to us, he frequently wanted to read the December Daily as a bedtime story! And I mean (too) frequently! I did not complete the project in 2011, primarily because we were traveling out-of-state that year, but this year (2012) I have come back to this merry-making modern memory keeping holiday craft.

My son frequently wanted to read the December Daily as a bedtime story!

So, this year I decided to try a traditional version of the project and to my delight my artsy-creative son decided to join me. I wanted complete the project in real-time to try to keep up with the daily events and to have a creative outlet. However December is a very busy time of year for anybody and even more so for our family because there are two birthdays during Nov-Dec. So, I didn’t actually work on the physical book daily, but I did keep up daily photos when something significant occurred and I kept a simple list of the memories in a small notebook. When we had some down time we pulled out our crafty tools and assembled pages. I finished my book a few days after New Years!

I’m so happy its done and feel so accomplished. But the best part was watching my family stop their comings and goings, to gather around the book and read my reflections on the month. Every giggle, smirk, grin, and laugh filled me with joy and I understood why it is worth the time and energy to do this project.

I have added the book to the Christmas boxes and can’t wait to pull it out next year and savor the little details that we have long forgot.

I seriously can’t urge you enough to consider a project like this for any significant period of time in your life. Move beyond the pictures on a phone, an Instagram feed, or lists of statuses on Facebook. You really won’t regret saving and savoring all the little bits that make up your life. Tell me have you tried the modern memory maker December Daily or a similar holiday project? I’d love to hear about it!