My recent posts have centered around two themes: gratitude and memory, the two areas I believe God is leading me to focus on for 2010. In this time between Christmas and Epiphany, the traditional twelve days of Christmas, I have been working on a gratitude journal where I’m recording both my One Thousand Gifts list (an edited version is on-line here), and memories of joy which come to mind as I review my life.
Just in the short time of making the list, I have found that I’m beginning to look forward to the time I spend reviewing the day. Sometimes it is easy, sometimes it takes a little digging.
Making the Journal
I selected some magazines for images and patterned craft paper my dad gave me to decorate the cover and each page:
(My own tastes lean toward nature photography, flowers, and victoriana, but a journal could easily be crafted differently.)
During the course of the afternoon, my mom came in to see how it was coming along. One magazine, The Girlhood Home Companion, had some paper dolls in the back, which led to my mom delightedly telling me about her afternoons as a child (before Barbie) cutting out paper dolls.
And the finished journal:
