When you are a kidless family like my man and I, Christmas doesn’t hold exactly the same magic as it does when you have kids around (or as it did when you were a kid, yourself). Looking back at my childhood, I still remember with vivid emotions my huge family gathered together to celebrate Christmas in my grandparents’ “chalet” in the Alps. My cousins and I often got the same present (to avoid jealousy)… we tried to figure out which of my uncles was playing Santa that year… and we laughed at our younger cousins when they were afraid of said Santa (forgetting that a few years before that, we were the ones who were scared!). We used to read fairy-tales, watch Disney programs, and have a “Christmas show” in which all the kids would perform for the adults. Big tables (and I mean BIG… we often were 30 or 40 people) and noisy rooms were the norm. The next day, we would get up a bit later than usual and go skiing together, even when we would have preferred to play with our brand new toys. In my dad’s family, things were much quieter with only 4 grand kids, and my cousins were much older than my brother and I. We ate the same Christmas dinner almost every year: ham with dried green beans and mashed potatoes. My grandparents lived in a small town in the mountains, so every Christmas was a white Christmas… and it was beautiful.

If you want to remind yourself of past Christmases (or memories in general!), try to use all your senses. We all have various ways to remember things, and even though visual memory is usually the strongest one — don’t forget to also use the smells, the tastes, the sounds, the feelings to bring back memories. Think of that itchy (and ugly!) wool sweater; those shiny shoes and velvet dress you wore on Christmas eve; your favorite dish from the Christmas feast; the first time you stole a sip of hot cider; the smell of fire in the chimney, or the smell of tangerines; the sound of Christmas carols; the sound of church bells ringing for midnight mass. Use all those bits and pieces as tools to jog your memory, then save those precious moments in a layout. That’s what I did here, using the fabulously-vintage kit Twenty-Five by Mari Koegelenberg.

 

 

Here are two other examples by talented TDP creative team members that show you how using all of your senses is a good way to jog your memory, even for more recent events. First, this gorgeous page by Erin (miimsgirl) using Season of Joy by Scotty Girl Designs…

 

 

Here, Erin doesn’t write about a specific past Christmas — just the Holidays in general — but she uses the same tip of putting her senses into action: the sound of Christmas music, the taste of festive snacks, the view of decorations. It’s a great way to put yourself in a Christmas-y mood!

Another example is this beauty by Heidi, using Tidings of Joy by River~Rose…

 

 

Here, again, the journaling isn’t about a specific year — but about the holiday season in general. She describes all of the pleasures of Christmas using various senses. She even added an additional dimension to her journaling by adding feelings and love, which is really the icing on the cake… or the star on top of the tree! LOL

I hope these tips will help yout dive into your memories and, using your five senses, help you document all of those precious little details which aren’t really all that little after all. 🙂

Merry Christmas in advance, everyone!

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About the author: Chloé is in charge of PR and communication for her small town by day, and “by night” is a digiscrapper and photographer whenever the light is beautiful. She lives with her man and fur-babies in the small town of Alsace (in the northeast of France), where she loves to read, watch good TV shows (TWD being her absolute favorite), and just hang out with her friends — no matter if they are close by, online, or away in her Swiss hometown.