This weekend my family is having their Christmas get together. Although we aren’t an overly large family (about sixteen of us when all assembled at my mother’s house), it isn’t often that we are all able to get together at the same time, usually no more than two or three times a year. With many of you having company over for the holidays, I thought this would be a perfect time to bring you a little information on starting a hostess journal, which is sure to be cherished by you and your family for generations to come.

I have always wanted to do this but only just now did. I simply purchased a journal, lined or plain, it makes no difference.

My journal is for Bountiful, our new home.

Whenever we have company over (What a gift it is to be able to entertain friends and family!), I write the date at the top of the page, the names of our guests, what we served, and any special memories or a little summary of the gathering.

My first entry was for our impromtu Christmas party.

(I really do have horrendous handwriting but I know my children will be glad I wrote this in my own hand one of these days. They may also wonder why I didn’t go into medicine…)

The second entry was when my Mother, Father, and Grandmama came over with my nephew and niece for dinner.

Their anniversary was coming up and so we gave them a gift and I wrote down what it was in addition to the other information.

That time,. I had everyone sign the book. Katy especially enjoyed this.

We took some special photos, so I placed them in an envelope and tucked them inside.

Of course, this would be a lovely idea for a scrapbooker to expand on but I prefer to go with the lesser pressure option right now, you can always go back and scrapbook later.

My niece, Elle is just a few months old, so I traced her wiggly hand on the page. 🙂

I know I’m going to cherish this and it is such a simple idea.

What a wonderful keepsake to pass down to my kids, too!

Special thanks to my dear friend, Maralee McKee, for taking time to talk with me yesterday about the wonders of keeping a Hostess Journal. I just knew she’d be a wealth of information and she has been keeping one for about fourteen years now. I’ve heard of other ideas where folks kept a special table cloth and had each guest sign it in permanent ink. I love that idea but the journal is something I can pick up and flip through, remembering what I served to people and drawing ideas for future guests.

Just a simple, lovely idea I thought I’d bring you in time to make your Christmas entries. This would make a lovely hostess gift as well.

Merry Christmas. Take time to draw joy from the simple things!

Gratefully,

Christy 🙂

Grandmama, Katy Rose, Mama, and niece, Elle.

Joy is not in things; it is in us.

-Richard Wagner. Submitted by Sara. Submit your quote here.