Preserving our family memories

I spend almost every Wednesday night scrapbooking at Doodles with my mom and a great group of 'scrap sisters'. Occasionally I also spend a day (like today!) or as a special treat, a whole weekend preserving the memories our family makes on pages for our albums.

The albums vary - Barry has his career albums grouped by posting; there is a set of albums filled with memories of the girl"s time with the band; there are albums about our trip to Cuba, Stanley the Bear, Barry's adventures with Jasper towing and our Christmas albums.

But I think the albums the family most often checks to see if there are new pages are the one just about us - what we do throughout the year, where we live, people we love, friends, birthdays and traditions.

I love to scrapbook - and since I stopped scrapping chronologically and started scrapping as a picture brought back memories or a creative idea hit, I have enjoyed it a lot more.

So here's to 2012 - and a year filled with preserving more memories - at my own rate and without any pressure to be creative. After all, in 60 years, I don't think my great-grandchildren are going to marvel at my creativity - they will just be thankful I took the time to document our family so they can have a glimpse into our lives.

Sometimes you have to forget about the to-do-list

Today was one of the those days. I had great intentions of using the weekend to finish putting away all the Christmas stuff and get the house back to normal -  do the laundry, change the bed - the never-ending chores that make it nice to be at home:)

And while I did manage to make a dent in the list - a fortunate thing happened. I decided to start reading one of the books I was lucky enough to get for Christmas. Not fortunate for the to-do-list (I have always chose reading over chores since I was 9 0r 10 reading Nancy Drew) but fortunate for me.

The book I picked up was Garth Stein's 'The Art of Racing in the Rain'. Now having an ageing dog - this might not have been a good choice - just like choosing to watch 'Marley and Me' a few weeks ago - but this book made me laugh out loud - even read a few paragraphs to Barry - and it made me smile - and yes, I even had to get some kleenex out towards the end.

If you haven't read this book yet - you can borrow my copy - it is a must read for anyone who believes dogs can actually communicate and that they have an important part in a family. I am quite certain even Mikey has thoughts like Enzo!

Warning - if you have unfinished chores - you might want to finish them before you start reading! And thanks Mom and Dad for the book - I can blame the unfinished to-do-list on you:)

Gingerbread 101

In 2010, my brother Ken and his family and Barry's mom Bernie came out to spend Christmas with the family. I tried to think of something new and creative for us to all do - that didn't require any athletic ability or special equipment. Walking through the stores - it hit me! We should do a team gingerbread house challenge! We did - it was lots of fun. Jackie and Jess won the 1st Gingerbread House challenge - and so began a new tradition.



Barry and I with our 2011 Gingerbread House

 In 2011, we didn't have out-of-town family visit so we had fewer 'entries' but all were very creative and original. Megan and Will did a gingerbread 'barn' complete with a silo, farm animals and strawberry patch.

Megan and Will with 'the farm'!

Mom and Dad did a more traditional house, complete with a 'teddy bear lane' made with Dad's cinnamon gummy bears from Sweet's in Salt Lake. They also used up all of the original kit ingredients.



Dad and Mom with 'teddy bear lane'



After the work was done, our top secret judges carefully evaluated the entries and declared that there were two winners in the 2011 Gingerbread House Challenge. Most Original Gingerbread House went to Megan and Will,

while Katie and Clint won Most Creative Gingerbread House (the rice krispie trees put it over the top.

Katie and Clint with their 'Winter Cabin'

 Barry was a little disappointed that his 'triage teepee' complete with gummy infantry men didn't win. Oh well, there is always next year! I guess we all better start getting some new ideas - top secret of course. Don't want to give away our plans to our competitors!

Reflection

 A few days before Christmas, something happened that made me spend some time over the holidays really looking at my life. What really matters to me. Have I grown as a person? Do I work hard on sustaining my relationships with family and friends? Do I work hard to make a positive difference in our community? Do I have integrity and a good work ethic? Do I place as much importance on those who love me and who I love as I do to total strangers or false friends? Am I doing what I need to continue to grow and learn?

As I thought about it, I realized that I have been so busy trying to make up for the past, that I haven't taken time to see that I am not the same person I was 15 years ago and that perhaps, it is time for me to see me as my family and true friends do - doing my best everyday while valuing my family and friends and doing what I can to make a positive contribution to the community I live in. Time to be as kind to myself as I am to others. Time to forgive myself.

While I have grown and learned from the past, it is time to let it go and move on. Continue to support my family and community; work on the relationships I value; take the opportunities that present themselves to continue to learn and grow; most of all, never take my family and true friends for granted.

So 2012 will be a year of change for me - no resolutions - rather a committment to continue to blog the things that matter - family, friends, home - and now, gratitude.

I learned those few days before Christmas that I should be grateful for the lessons learned and the love that surrounds and supports me. I am blessed.