Some of my scrapbook albums by year.

WARNING: What you are about to read can be very contagious and addictive! I heart scrapbooking! I caught this bug several years ago. It can only be cured by placing your memories in albums and leafing through them at later times to enjoy. Because I take pleasure in this pastime, I figured that one day my kids might want their own scrapbooks to enjoy.

 I have an album for each calendar year, the date is embossed on the spine of each scrapbook, these are my albums. I also have an album for each child. When making copies of photos I make an extra copy of a few photos throughout the year that I would like to put in that child’s album. For example: to record a birthday party, I may take five pages to document the event. But in the child’s album, I only put three or four photos from the big day. This let’s each of my kids have a scrapbook that is strictly theirs. They can write in, look through, touch, explore, and one day take it with them to remember their childhood. I let them decorate their album with stickers and write what they want to. This also gives a history of my child’s handwriting and creativity at each stage of their life. (They don’t write in my album.)

 It isn’t always easy to keep these albums up-to-date but I try. When there is a snow day, an unplanned free day, or a day when I just need to get away, I retreat to my albums. When working on them, I get a chance to reminisce and reflect on what a great family God has blessed me with. Good luck on this infectious disease.

Do you scrapbook?  How do you document each year?