Week Forty-Two: Writing about the Holidays

This time of year everyone is busy with holiday preparation. The Genea-Bloggers have been doubly busy keeping up with all the carnivals, memes, and Saturday night games. So rather than post more journaling prompts that might possibly overwhelm our genea-blogging elves, I'm going to encourage those of you who do NOT have a blog to take a look at some of the writing events in which the Genea-Bloggers are participating, in order to get some ideas on what to journal:

The theme for the 61st Edition of the Carnival of Genealogy was "Traditions" and the theme for the 62nd Edition will be "Three Wishes". Jessica Oswalt is doing something similiar for the 14th Edition of the Carnival of Central and East European Genealogy. What sorts of traditions have endured in your family? What new ones have you started? What do you hope will be passed on? If you could have three things that belonged your ancestors as Christmas or holiday gifts, what would they be?

Do you have a favorite Christmas or holiday photo? Who would you give copies to? This was the idea behind footnoteMaven's yet-to-be-published 8th Edition of the "I Smile for the Camera" Carnival, aptly named "Stocking Stuffer."

The footnoteMaven started a tradition of Blog Caroling last year, in which each blogger wrote his or her favorite carol or holiday song. It's been renewed this year. What a great idea! Write about your favorite carol, its history and author, how it became your favorite, and what memories it revives when you sing or play it.

Tim Abbott of Walking the Berkshires is getting ready to put together the 12th Cabinet of Curiosities. Do you have any odd ornaments, decorations, or heirlooms? How did you happen to inherit or come to own these?

Speaking of decorations, have you left a record of your decorated home (present or past) for future generations? Denise Olsen of Moultrie Creek is hosting the Christmas Tour of Blogs. This would make a wonderful scrapbooking/journaling combination for non-bloggers.

Are you of the Jewish faith? Then visit Schelley or John's blogs for creative ideas to share your celebrations of Hanukah.

And if all these ideas aren't enough to inspire you, then I recommend that you visit either Thomas or Jasia's blog to view the wonderful Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories, which they put together last year. There are 24 prompts to keep you busy writing and scrapping!

Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories

I haven't added any journal prompts in such a long time (hangs head guiltily). However, Thomas and Jasia put their heads together and came up with an Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories for other genealogy bloggers that is just perfect for journaling your own Christmas memories. I invite you to click on either link above (it's the same list) to read the list of 24 blogging prompts which can be used for your journal. There's one for each day from December 1st through the 24th. It's not too late to start; I haven't blogged anything so far, but will jump in as time allows.

If you'd like to read others' memories, click here to see Thomas' introduction to each day's theme with links to bloggers' posts. I've noticed that by reading these posts, I've been reminded in more detail of some of my own Christmas memories.

P.S. If you don't celebrate Christmas, you can alter these prompts to reflect your own religion's winter holiday memories.