Still Christmas?

Here we are at the end of March. Surely, it can’t still be Christmas around here?

Well, since the beginning of December, one of the worktables - well, two, really - in my studio has been covered in “stuff”. Christmas papery bits and pieces unpacked from the box that lives underneath the worktable the rest of the year, but out in the open in the hope of being put to effective use. The trouble is, there is altogether too much of it, so much so that for most of the time, the saying about woods and trees comes to mind. After all, if something is buried under layers of other things, there’s not much chance of being inspired by it, is there?

As of today, however, my paper worktable looks like this. Everything has been put away for another year and my Christmas Journal for 2022 is complete. Well, the covers could use a little zhuzh up (not only did I not know how to write that word till now, I didn’t even realise is was a “real” word!) but that will come in time. The most important thing is that it is DONE!

So what kept me? How come it took so long? It’s not as if I’ve not made these things before or that I don’t enjoy doing them. There are seventeen previous versions of this on my shelf and many follow more or less the same formula. If I’m honest, it’s a bit of a mystery why this year’s edition didn’t fly.

The pages are a blend of Christmas-related things and the everyday stuff that carries on regardless and though I don’t stay exactly with what happened on each specific day, the overall arc of the story is a progression towards the big event.

The start of each journal is a scene-setter, with a few details of what’s going on and where we’ve been. Though I handwrite some of the labels and small cards, I often use the font of my handwriting to fit a lot of text into a small area. It’s strange though - it’s somehow not really my handwriting!

Somewhere at the start is usually a story about making our Christmas cards and then, a little later, an example of this year’s effort. That often goes alongside a set of Christmas stamps and a few from the cards which we love to receive from all over the world.

This year, I seemed to be placing a large number of orders online, taking advantage of “order early” benefits. I made one page into a pocket and printed out the confirmation emails small enough to fit inside it.

Sometimes I go a bit off piste and make something different. This time I had a pot of red, green and gold sequins, so I stitched a page into a pocket for them and wrote the story of going with friends to the circus for dinner inside.

So it goes. There are one or two linking features throughout: I try to keep to a fairly uniform colour palette and style and I usually cut a set of large numbers showing the countdown on each page. This year, I cut them from gold glitter paper and was pleased to see they looked pretty good regardless of the theme or the background.

I know that I will regret not getting my machine out and finding another bit of that gold paper for 19, which seemed to disappear during the month. At the time, “done” was certainly better than “perfect” and I used a couple of gold numbers from a set of stickers I had from somewhere. The theme of the page was “busy” though, so perhaps that’s in keeping!? (My excuse and I’m sticking to it!)

Anyway, as the month progressed, the developing story was one of failed deliveries and that was one which just had to be told! We were going to be home alone, just the two of us and looked forward to kicking back and enjoying the good things over the holiday weekend. Still, I thought I’d include photos showing a slightly less decorated house and the quieter atmosphere around here.

By the time we reached the 25 page, the binder was pretty full and I wondered about including that heavy cardboard house, cut from my advent calendar this year. But it was too cute to leave out and so in it went.

I wrote here about what actually happened on Christmas Day and of course, wanted to record it all in my journal too. Perhaps that’s what made it difficult to bring this year’s different story to a close? This year’s journal focuses far more on people than things. For once, there’s no page about wrappings or presents, no page of receipts or surprises. That’s not to say there weren’t any - Father Christmas was more generous than ever. But somehow, in 2022, it was the kindness, the generosity and the extraordinary spirit of friends and family that shone through.

My tradition is to close my Christmas Journal with a photograph from “Christmas Past”. This year there’s a picture from 1990, around a table in München - prompted by our time there this January, when we enjoyed looking through Bernd’s albums from that time.

So that’s it. Another one on the shelf and no further excuses for a messy studio.

Or?