As of today, the holidays are officially upon us. The holiday season is always a busy time of year for me, but it’s also one of the times of year that I feel really need to be documented. This creates a dilemma: how do I keep up with memory keeping and the demands of the holiday season? The key for me has always been prepping for holiday memory keeping before the rush starts. Here are four things I am doing right now to get ready.

Decide how you want to document your stories. Will you do a daily project for the month, or will you plan for specific large events and scrap only those? For the last few years, I have done a daily project. It makes the most sense for how I take pictures and the things that I want to share. A daily project is definitely not for everyone, so you may think about what are the “big” things you’ll do during the holiday season? A quick list of the major activities can help you plan out what your pages will look like.

Pick a few products and stick with them. I know this is hard to do, there are always so many great holiday kits and elements that come out throughout the season. I’ve been tempted many times. However, I have found that picking a few products to use makes it easier on me, and brings some nice cohesion to your pages. There are so many great options here at TLP, it will be hard to pick just a few, but it will be worth it in the end.

Plan, plan, plan. I mentioned above that it’s helpful to write out a list of the major activities you want to document throughout the holiday season. In addition to this list, I also make a list of photo “must haves” that I want to take throughout the season. That way, when I get one of the photos on the list, I can check it off and move on to something else.

Remember the important stuff. The holiday season is so easy to get swept up in, there is so much to do and see, and what seems like so little time to get it all done in. Add to that memory keeping, and you have a potential recipe for disaster. A few years ago I found myself obsessing about getting all of the layouts done, or making sure there was a page for each day. it ruined the holiday season for me because I lived only for that book. I vowed then to never do that again. Remember that living life is WAY more important than documenting it. Don’t let it take over your life.

So, as we go into the holiday season, these are the major things I am keeping in mind in terms of my memory keeping. How do you plan to document this holiday season?