My Holiday Notebook

One November, I was in a dither looking for our favorite Thanksgiving recipes. During the move to our new home, I had filed them away in some "safe place" only to forget exactly where that was! After much searching, I finally found the recipes and breathed a sigh of relief. After that episode, I decided it was time to put together a Holiday Notebook so that it would never happen again.

I simply placed all of my holiday planning notes, lists and recipes into a 3-ring binder with page protectors and dividers. Whenever I find a neat holiday idea from a magazine, I tear it out and add it to my folder.

Sections include:
1. Favorite Family Recipes
2. Menus
3. Grocery Shopping List
4. To Do List
5. Christmas Card List
6. Gift Ideas and List
7. Decorating Ideas
8. Kids' Activities and Crafts
9. Favorite Holiday Books, Videos and Music
10. Places to visit
11. Special Family Memories (newsletters, special things we've done, etc.)
12. Ministry opportunities (such as Operation Christmas Child, etc.)

One of the most helpful things has been the master grocery shopping list. Since I make basically the same menu every year, this saves me time so I don't have to recreate the same list over and over again.

I plan to eventually create four notebooks, one for each season—Winter, Spring, Summer and Fall--which will contain recipes and activities for holidays around the year. Some day I hope our children will look through these notebooks and remember our special holiday memories with fondness.