december daily — bananafishstudio

The other day I went back into the old Bananafishstudio archives and discovered my first mention of December Daily…it was 2008- pre branding, pre trademark, pre product line. Back then it was really just Ali, a popular scrapbooker who decided to document her holiday season by creatively recording her life throughout December and turning it into a little work of art. It is now perhaps one of the most beloved memorykeeping projects and home to one of the most vibrant online communities within the scrapbooking industry. Every September we all wait with bated breath as Ali, now the owner of a thriving memorykeeping brand and company, releases the new DD product. Joy and a tiny bit of disappointment inevitably abound. We flock to the Facebook group…who got what? Who will be doing what format? Who missed out? Will it be restocked? I must confess, the hype is exciting and I find myself swept up in it every year, but the reality? I have only completed my last four albums. So now I shall tell you why.

When I first saw Ali’s handmade minibook I knew I wanted to make my own…and I did. It was such fun to make…the only problem? Once the time came, I felt zero motivation to fill it. With each passing December day I felt less inspired. My photos looked like crap, I didn’t do anything interesting, I’m not religious, I don’t have kids, it doesn’t snow where I live. I don’t have a fireplace…or a cute mantle for that matter, etc. The more I thought about what I didn’t have the more I lacked motivation to document. Not exactly merry and bright, right?. I got totally caught up in the wrong stuff and that made it really hard to see and appreciate all the goodness right front of me. I decided that after a few years of making minibooks and filling them with nothing that this project just wasn’t for me. Now here’s the thing…I don’t think I was alone in that. There are so many aspects of this project that are appealing for various reasons. The delightful product, the fun community, the FOMO, the organizing and reorganizing, the preperation, the anticipation, did I mention the product? Any one of these things could be enough to convince me that I want to do it….but none of these things on their own is enough to get me to finish it…so I just decided to stop trying.

In 2015 things changed. I realized that my perspective had also changed.

Ali offered a class in 2015 titled Storytelling with December Daily and I decided to take it. It had been a long time since I attempted one and I thought maybe it was time to revisit it. I didn’t really have much holiday product, but thanks to my time on the Gossamer Blue design team I received their December Memories kit designed by the amazing Liz Tamanaha of Paislee Press. This was before she started designing for Ali and the DD brand. I was so inspired by the delicious product but I still needed to figure out my reason why. Ali’s class helped with that. I discovered that in the last several years…not only was I growing and changing as a person, I was also doing so as a memorykeeper. My appreciation and love for the life I had created for myself changed my perceptions so deeply. I could now see the beauty in my OWN life…which made it that much easier to capture. Oh, and having a good camera phone and filters didn’t hurt:) The class helped me to focus on the storytelling and not just on the days. It was through this that I discovered my reason why…and it was simple.

I love December. I love that slow transition from one season to the next. I love the Winter Solstice when the earth rests and I rest with it. I love that this time of year brings out the best in me and that I am filled with immense gratitude that I made it through the last 11 months. It’s that special place at the end of one year and the beginning of another that I just give myself space to enjoy and record. That was it.

I wasn’t going to try and scrapbook in December anymore. I was going to give myself space to simply live my life, take pictures and write things down.

That has become my memorykeeping mantra; Live. Take Pictures. Write things down.

In December of 2015, that’s all I did. I laughed, I ate, I decorated, I was so happy to be back in the PNW. I knit, I wore sweaters and took my dog on long slow walks, I watched my favorite movies and read my favorite books, we decorated, lit fires in the fireplace, we reveled in our friends , in each other and in our home. I captured what I could, what moved me, what I wanted in photos and I kept a daily journal. Nine months later I began putting it all together.

Yup, you read that right. I don’t actually do December Daily in December…I live it, but I don’t make it. That comes several months later in September right as it slips into my beloved October and that old excitement and anticipation begins to bubble up inside me. When I’m starting to receive all of my goodies, but we still have two months until showtime…yes indeed! This is the best time to actually put together my album because it’s when I feel the most motivated and excited to do so. I like taking advantage of the momentum and working on the previous year’s stories while simultaneously revisiting our memories with the added gift of time and perspective. I have already prepared. I’ve got photos ready for printing, daily journaling to serve as a reminder and a list of stories I want to record. I know this December will be different. I know that I won’t be traveling, I won’t be seeing friends or going to the movies. I can easily make a list of all the things I won’t get to do this year…I can just as easily make a list of all the things I WILL get to do and that’s the beauty of this project. It helps me find the magic in whatever circumstance and I hope it helps you find some too…whether it will becomes a scrapbook or not…I’ll decide next September..

So here’s to October, to November and of course, December. Here’s to celebrating another season in a way that brings me joy, keeps me calm and makes me merry!

2017| Traveler’s Notebook and Handmade cover