December Daily/Journal Your Christmas

Like many of you, I am attempting to create a December Daily album this year.  I made one last year for the first time. I enjoyed the finished product, but I must admit it didn't get complete until July! You can see some of my posts about last year's album here, here, and here.

Last year I followed Ali's templates pretty closely.  I used her 6x8 overlays and layered templates for most pages, and included the transparency layers in between.  It looks great, but I found it a bit overwhelming. I also felt a bit guilty when I didn't have anything to include on a particular day, since I had already printed out the pages. Those empty pages were taunting me! This year, I'm doing a few things to simplify the process:

• I'm not going to attempt to document every single day. Some days I may not have anything to say, and that's okay! I have not created any number tags yet, since I don't know which days I'll actually make a page for.
• I'm applying Noell Hyman's 6x6 minibook technique (if you're a paperclipping member, check out video #162 over at Paperclipping.com).  I've pre-cut a bunch of Christmas papers to 6x6, and they are currently sitting on my desk along with a bunch of random Christmas embellishments. My plan is to make a 2-page spread for most days, with journaling on one side, photo on the other.  If I have a lot to say, I can add a 3x6 journaling page in between. 
• I'm combining December Daily along with Shimelle's Journal Your Christmas class. I've never done Shimelle's class before, but I am hoping her prompts will inspire me to write about something even on days where I don't initially feel I have a story to tell. Today she encouraged us to think about why we are making this type of album/journal and shared her "manifesto" with us. For now, I'm going with her manifesto and embracing the concept of "keeping it simple"!

Are you taking part in any of these holiday projects? Have you done anything to simplify the process? I'd love any tips you might have!