Sometimes It Snows in April...

No, not really! Or at least in these parts. However, all it took was a cozy rainy Sunday and a Downton Abbey marathon on PBS all day to get me in the mood to scrapbook my photos that I took over Christmas. Now I know there are some over-achievers out there that did that back in, oh, December - but that's so not me! I do much better taking the photos during the holidays (or event, or vacation) and then working on the project once I have all supplies on my desk and printed photos in hand. It just seems to work better that way for me.

I've tried every size album imaginable over the last few years for my Christmas scrapbook. The first year I did my Christmas album in 12 x 12 format and worked on it FOREVER! Then another year I did a little 6x6 and I felt like it was way too small; I had to leave out many favorite photos. So this year, just like Goldilocks, I found the one that was just right: the lovely little binder from Simple Stories {Red Binder Found Here} It's the perfect size! They also come in numerous colors and would be perfect for so many different occasions. Not only is the size ideal, but you can do as many scrapbook layouts as you want, or you can simply add your photos straight to the included two-up page protectors and call your album done. Very versatile indeed.

First I gathered all of my lovely scrappy supplies from my Christmas stash:

Then I went through all my photos from December. I organized them chronologically, and then by occasion. It was great fun looking through these photos, and it made me realize how much has already happened this year. It let me know I was doing the right thing getting these photos in a scrapbook now, before the memories fade with all the chaos of daily life.

I started off with the title page, featuring our Christmas tree from this year. Then I went along and made more layouts with some of most favorite photos from the holiday.

**If you're new here, please note that you can click on the photos to make them larger, to see the detail. I had so many photos for this post, I tried to combine several layouts per photo.**

It was nice to have the option to do the photos in a traditional scrapbooking format (photos on a larger page) OR to just slide them into the "two-up" page protector that came with the album. This helped me keep this album simple and much less time consuming.

In an afternoon and most of an evening (while watching Peter Pan with my youngest son) I was able to complete our 2012 Christmas album. Here are just a couple more pages and some close-ups of techniques that may inspire you in your own scrapbook.

Remember that this is your album, that you can add whatever you'd like (note my Starbuck's drink sleeve that I received the first day of the Season that my favorite Creme Brulee Latte returned!) Keep your album simple, or if you're feeling really artsy one day, don't be afraid to mix things up. Most of all, START. As you can see, all of my layouts are very simple, but you know what? I love them, and feel that being able to look at this completed album with my children is the best gift ever -- even here in April.