Ditching Scrapbook Guilt

Today is the first day of the new year.  We literally turn the page on the previous year to see a blank slate of opportunities held within the coming year.  Many people evaluate their lives at this point each year.  I enjoy dreaming, planning and mapping out what I hope for in the new year.  I enjoy thinking about what's to come in the next 12 months.  What will this year hold for our family?  Where will we be at this time next year?  What do I want to accomplish?  What do I want to let go of? 

Today I write about letting go of something I've held onto for the last five years that I no longer can grasp: scrapbooking my children's lives.  I began with the best intentions.  I got together with a few girlfriends and we would scrap and chat.  These were fun and productive evenings, but as with many things, life got in the way and we stopped meeting for this purpose.  My twins were 5 years old in October.  Guess how far along I am in their scrapbooks?  I have their 6 month pages finished.  Hey, if I didn't have to do two I would have had a whole year done, right?

I kept telling myself that I would get caught up.  First, I thought when I moved into a home that allowed me ample space to spread out and create that I would be a scrapping queen.  Wrong.  But I do have it organized in a lovely way so that I can easily get to it.  That counts for something, right?  Then I told myself when they started preschool that I would have more time to tackle such endeavors.  It doesn't happen now either.  I see a pattern.  I am interested in working on it but not committed enough to make it happen.  This is truly a lesson that can be applied to many areas of life. 

So, what shall I do?  I will finish documenting the second 6 months of my sons' lives and then I will sell my equipment, embellishments, gadgets, and gizmos at my annual garage sale.  I will make online albums that take a fraction of the time and quite honestly may hold up better over time than my handmade ones.  I will ditch the guilt that lurks in the back of my mind.  I will enjoy making new memories instead of obsessing about how to find time to preserve the old ones.