Christmas journaling 2012

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luludou

Well-Known Member
Premiere Member
Dec 28, 2007
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Québec - Canada
I found a red carton notebook so I want to do some journaling this year. I went through the threads and found this one:
http://magicalholidayhome.com/forum/showthread.php?t=22850&page=5&highlight=christmas+journal
where pixiestick gave us some journaling prompts. I'm printing these out right now.

Christmas Journaling 2010
________________________________________
Here we go ladies! Grab a blank book, notebook, paper or whatever you have and just start writing. Don't edit yourself, just get your thoughts down on paper! The goal is to share your thoughts with yourself first and then if you choose others in perhaps the future. It is supposed to be fun and get your thoughts thinking of the holidays even though we are in the middle of summer!

I will edit this post each day to add the new journal topic. That way there will be a cumulative list all in one place. SO, check back each day for the new journal topic.

We will start off easy....

1. Eggnog----Yum! or Yuck? (feel free to elaborate with specific memories of tasting eggnog for the first time, making eggnog, always remembering your grandmother having eggnog, etc...)

2. Candy canes- lick?chew? throw away? --- Have you ever read the childrens picture book called The Legend of the Candy Cane by Lori Walburg? Check it out from your library this month! There is also a DVD of this story starring Tom Bosley and Florence Henderson - maybe your library has that too!

3. Christmas Carols- keep the traditional or please write some new ones? ---Music is such a strong memory trigger, talk about how the music of Christmas colors your celebration. Are there Christmas songs that make you tear up, that you dislike, that remind you of a specific time or person?

4. Gift bags?- reuse? or never use? --- Wrapping gifts is a ritual for some people and a last minute chore for others. The invention of gift bags changed the wrapping landscape for some. Some welcome the chance to be greener and re-use, some just think it is holiday sacrilege. Where do you fall in the great gift bag debate?

5. Salvation Army bell ringers- admirable or irritating? Have you every been a bell ringer? or volunteered to be the "face" of a charity during the holidays collecting money or anything else?

6. What smells remind you of Christmas or mean Christmas to you? ----Smell is also a powerful trigger and can bring us back to a specific time or place in an instant.

7. Are there dishes that you only make or eat at Christmas? What are they? Maybe include the recipe and history of the dish?

8. Do you give charitable donations at Christmas time? Do you give to the same organizations? Do you choose different ones each year? Do you give your time or your money? What does giving mean to you at the holidays?

9. Friutcake- Yes, please! or not with a 10 ft. pole? Fruitcake is always on the grocery shelf at the holidays- are you one of the ones who buys it? Have you ever attempted to make it? If you always make it then include the recipe.

10. If you could spend your Christmas in another country, what country would you choose and why?

11. Do you like to entertain at Christmas? DO you have a yearly event for friends like an open house or holiday party? Or do you prefer to concentrate your celebrations with family?

12. How would you describe your style of Christmas decorating- traditional, country, whimsical, country, north-woodsy, child-like? Has is always been this style or do you change every so often? Does this style echo your style of decorating your home in general?

13. Are the arts a regular part of your Christmas season? Do you always go to a holiday play, concert, show, ballet or movie during the holiday season?

14. Have your ever been kissed under real mistletoe? Is mistletoe a part of your holiday tradition? Real mistletoe or pretend?

15. Do you consider yourself a practical gift giver or a creative one? Do you like shopping of a list made by the recipient or just your own ideas? Do you think there is a difference between a gift and a present?

16. Do you think YOU are an easy person to buy gifts for or a challenging one? Why?

17. If you have a pet do you include them in your Christmas? DO they have a stocking and get gifts like all your other family members?

18. Are homemade gifts a part of your holidays? Do you enjoy receiving homemade gifts in a different way than a store bought gift? Are you know for giving a certain kind of homemade gift - like fudge?

19. Do you have holiday dinnerware? If so, tell how you choose it, the pattern and why you love it!

20. Snow at Christmas- essential? a nice touch? a pipe dream but a dream nonetheless?

21. In honor of MinniCo's post --- what was your most disastrous Christmas?

22. Tell about your feelings about Christmas Cards--- are they a joy to write or a burden? Do you have a ritual for writing them out? Do you look for a certain kind of card each year, is it a search for the perfect card? Do you write out a letter to everyone or a hand note in each? Does your Christmas card list change each year? Has you Christmas card sending changed thru the years?

23. RE-POST- How do you feel about Christmas newsletters sent by people? DO you love hearing their news? DO you think they are just "brag letters"? Do you write one yourself?

24. Black Friday- I am right there with bells on, knocking down the doors or I wouldn't shop on Black Friday if you paid me?

25. Christmas Stockings- tell about your families Christmas stockings.. are their stories behind them? are they homemade? have you always had these stockings or have you changed them- why? What are your stocking traditions? Do you hand them on the mantle, lay them under the tree? DOes everyone in your family get stockings or just the children?

26. DO you decorate things other than your home for the holidays? Like-- your office, your car, your aquarium?

27. Do you decorate outside in your yard and your home? Tell about the decorations in your yard and outside? Do you add or change to it year after year? DO you do the outside stuff or does your significant other take are of that?

28. When does it really start feeling like Christmas to you each year? Is it the day after Thanksgiving? when your tree is up? When the presents are all wrapped? When the family is all gathered together?

29. Do you have a ritual for taking the Christmas tree down each year?

30. Do you think Santa is sexy?

31. How do you usually spend the day after Christmas? Do you have a tradition for that day? do you spend it -Shopping? at the movies? with family? traveling?
__________________
 

Gingerbug

Administrator
MHH Admin
Oct 9, 2007
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Awesome...thanks for bringing this back to life!

:clothes:
 

Grammyk

Retire Member
Jan 14, 2008
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Here is the questions I had saved from 2009! enjoy

1. Growing up- were your family's Christmas' plain or elaborate?
2. *What is the first Christmas you can recall? Give details.
3. What part, if any, did religion play in your families Christmas growing up?
4.Talk about your families Christmas tree growing up? Was it real? was there a tradition around getting it? Was it decorated the same each year? lights-colored or white?
5. Did your family decorate the outside of the house? How?
6. *Did you celebrate any cultural or ancestral traditions growing up? Do you know their origin?
7. What are your first memories of Santa Claus?
8. As a child did you go to visit Santa every year? What do you remember most about that ?
9. Did you open gifts Christmas eve or Day? Were their traditions around the opening of gifts?
10. How did you get gifts for your parents/siblings when you were young?
11. Were you ever in a Christmas pageant/play/production as a child?
12. Did you write to Santa each year?
13. Do you remember when you "stopped" believing in Santa?
14. Did you make gingerbread houses or other special Christmas cookies each year? What about your families holiday kitchen do you remember most?
15. What (outside) activities did you grow up doing in the winter?
16. What do you remember about music surrounding your holidays growing up?
17. * As a child did you ever shake gifts under the tree to try and figure out what you were getting? Do you still?
18. Close your eyes, what sounds do you remember about your childhood holidays? Do you have a favorite?
19. What was your Christmas stocking like as a child? Were there any traditions about stockings ?
20. Have you ever been Christmas caroling?
21. Was charity a part of your Christmases growing up?
22. Were there certain holiday tv programs, movies, performances you always anticipated ?
23. What do you miss most about Christmas as a child?
24. Do you remember how Christmas was marked as "over" as a child- meaning was it the putting away of the tree etc...
25. * Do you have a Christmas object in your home now that has sentimental value from your childhood?
26. What holiday traditions have been added now that you have a family? Have any been dropped? What have been blended or merged from your significant others family?
27. What is the one thing you have always wanted to do during the holiday season but haven't yet?
28. * What is your favorite Christmas phrase, quote, or verse?
29. *What is your favorite Christmas scent/smell and why.
30. Do you have any Christmas collections? How did that all start?
31. How did you come to love Chrsitmas so much? Have you always loved it?
 

Kim Loves Snow

Santa's Elves
Premiere Member
Aug 3, 2008
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Richmond, Virginia
I have never done this...I'm thinking it could be fun to do with the boys. I'm not sure they would want to do it every day, but maybe we can do it for the 12 days of Christmas. Fun!
 

Colleen in PA

Retire Member
Aug 20, 2008
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I sent the 2010 list of questions out with my CiJ boxes this year...I need to follow up and see if anyone did them.

Thank you for the 2009 list! I am going to try this myself this year.