It’s Not Too Late to Leave a Legacy

The days to Christmas are slipping away, and yet there is plenty of time left to make gifts that will last a lifetime. It takes a little planning and intentional time set aside, but the gratitude and exclaims of joy over your gift of lasting memories far surpasses any time invested.

Scrapbooks are a gift that keeps on giving. I have found over the years, as I have made and given scrapbooks as gifts that they are some of the most well-received presents ever. With all the various sizes and choices of albums available at any local craft store, you can find a themed book to fit any of your gift recipient’s interests or hobbies.

There are a number of different ways you can go about this idea of giving a scrapbook for a Christmas gift. Goodness knows I have found several different ways to present and offer this type of gift.

You could choose to do a tribute to a parent, other family member or friend. Find photos that chronicle that person’s life and showcase them in a creative way with highlights of their achievements, dreams and life goals. Share your heart over how this person has made an impact in your life and include specific examples of how much they mean to you. If writing and expressing yourself at length is intimidating, let the photos you include tell the story.

Another wonderful way to put together a gift album — especially for a small child, but not limited to children at all — is an ABC album. Choose your photos to go along with an alphabetical theme. Don’t worry if you don’t have anything to represent those hard letters like Q, X or Z . . . that’s where fun stickers and other artwork come in to play. You can embellish your photos in such a way that each letter is suitably represented, telling a story as you go along. This particular type of album can be as copy heavy or light as you see fit.

The reason I mentioned it makes such a great gift for a small child is that you can make the letters big and bold in order to help a young child learn his or her alphabet surrounded by the faces of people he or she loves and instantly recognizes. I plan to make one of these albums this year for my nephew. He will be two this year, and my scrapbook will have a dual purpose — to introduce him to his letters and help him get to know an aunt, uncle and cousins he doesn’t get to see often. I will include photos of us doing things we love to do, and he can begin to associate our faces with our names.

An even quicker gift idea for scrapbookers is to assemble a blank album for the recipient to complete. You put all the layouts together, usually in a themed album, leaving photo spaces open throughout the book. Then when your gift is received, the honoree can include the photos of his/her choice. Many people are very thrilled to receive this kind of album, because it completely cuts out the work for them. They now have a creative and visually pleasing scrapbook, and all they have to do is stick in the photos. Grandparents are often the perfect choice for this type of scrapbook, because they want a place to display that mounting stack of grandbaby photos, but haven’t had the time to create the scrapbook.

These are just a few ideas of how you might assemble a tangible memory for one of your special friends or family members. Don’t be intimidated by all the available supplies out there. Start small. A gift-sized album can be anywhere from 4″x4″ to 12″x12″. With your pictures already chosen, you could probably put a small album together in the space of a couple of hours. Have fun with it and let me know what your recipients thought once they received such a gift of love from you. Who knows? This may be your best Christmas ever!