Welcome to December 2012. I know I’m a tad early in my wishes. Yet December will be here in a few days, and I want to share my “Joy to the World” Christmas journal with you because I’m so excited for this project!

It’s one of those projects I look forward to every year.

Some years I’ve started this book at Thanksgiving and ended on Christmas day while living in the United States. Other years were a documentation of December 1-31 in Germany.

Regardless of start and finish, I love this storycatching project. I’m starting on December 1, here at the hangar loft.

I’d like to invite you to join me from the cozy of your home.

I discovered gold this year.

I fell deeply in love. Vintage gold jewelry, gold jingle bells, gold glitter paint…

I’m using the “Joy to the World” Christmas journal in White Starry Night with the expansion pack and stuff I have at home. The gold strip and bells are from that expansion kit. I attached the strip with double sided tape.

That’s what I love about journaling. You can tell your stories however you want. There isn’t the pressure for perfection that is easily felt in scrapbooking. It doesn’t matter if you cross off words, forget a few details and add them later, or write down stories and never look at them again. It also doesn’t matter if you document every single story.

 Above are pages from my past Christmas journals, all using the “Joy to the World” Christmas journal at Gadanke. (clockwise from upper right: jotting notes, German Christmas candy, the beginning of a new book, remembering Childhood traditions, a winter flight, hot drinks, and our traditional Tom & Jerry recipe)

This is your holiday. It’s the way you choose to document it, embrace it, and just go with it.

How do you plan on documenting some of the magic this season? Would you like to join me?