Last night, I sat down to journal in my Christmas journal from Gadanke.

My goal is to record a tidbit about every day of the month. Maybe our celebration isn’t fairytale like. Maybe it’s not the kind you see on the cover of magazines. But it’s ours. If we look deep inside ourselves and stop comparing, I know we can truly see: it’s perfect just how it is.

That said, I’m not going to get upset if I have to sit down and journal about a couple of days all at once because I got too busy or didn’t feel like writing, and I’m not going to be bothered if I just plain out miss a few days. The reason I like to journal through Christmas is to document life.

The pages I write don’t have to be perfect and beautiful. I think it’s more important to get the stories down on paper. Embrace penmanship for what it is. Accept grammar and spelling errors. And just write.

It doesn’t matter to me if the stories I write are all about what’s going on today. Sometimes I see a prompt and want to write about memories. The memories we have directly impact who we are today. I think that’s why this page – and this German treat – had so much impact on me today.

Here’s a page from my Christmas journal:

I had to edit the prompt!

Journaling reads: When I see Martin witha bag of his favorite German Christmas treat, I know he is slipping into the holiday spirit. I know he’ll be okay with my Christmas music (which started a little [bit] two weeks ago!). I know that the crinkling of plastic coming from his desk is a package of marzipan. And I know he’s going to wonder who the heck cut up his package… and snatched a marzipan!

Materials used: marzipan wrapper, patterned tape, patterned gold paper, double sided tape, and a black pen and fading green marker.

(We have often found a lot of Martin’s childhood favorite treats from Europe at an Italian market in a my hometown nearby. The internet is another awesome place to turn, and some people say chain stores like World Market can have some good finds, too.)

There is still time to grab a Christmas journal if you want to document the season.

And swing over to the facebook page to see how Michelle in Wyoming used this page. Apparently, she’s the candy cane QUEEN!

What are some of your favorite treats this time of year? Ever had marzipan like they make in Germany? (Marzipan is more of an icing in the US and an almond paste treat by itself in Germany, I’d say.)