Growing up, we had a few holiday traditions. One of our favorites was filling in and reading through the family Christmas book that my parents had received as a wedding gift in 1981.
The book has 25 two page spreads which have a place to share a family photo from Christmas eve or day, a place to journal what you did during the holiday season, a place to share the holiday card you mailed out and a place to share what happened to the family during the past year.
My parents took a lot of film photos of us as kids, but they did not do any memory-keeping or documenting with words other than this book – which, as it turns out, is really all you need. The book was packed away with our decorations every year and only came out each December. Reading back through the entries and seeing the photos change was always sweet & hilarious. When we got older, Robbie and I would help my mom make long lists of what had happened to each family member and then she would transcribe it into the book. My parents are now onto their second album and my mom types the journaling and tapes it in – too much happens each year to hand-write it all into the small space provided.
When Paul and I got married, my parents bought us our own book. I filled it in one night last week and added our Christmas card (the photo is on the back and the card flips up). I will adding a Christmas photo we take in our apartment before we fly up to Sacramento on Christmas Eve. I want to be sure the photo shows where we are living as that will change so often over Paul's military career.
I remember reading about the four Christmases my parents spent together before I was born with fascination – it's always so hard to imagine your parents existing before you – and I love that our little ones will grow up with the same feelings.
Seriously, best tradition ever. I am so thankful my mom took the time to capture our family every December and passed the idea on to me. And thanks Mom, for snapping the some photos of the Blaha family book for me to share.
enJOY it 
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