Tags
Bluestem, Christmas Memories, Crowne Center, Holidays, Kolo, Oklahoma Joe's, Tannin Wine Bar, Toy and Miniature Museum
Well it’s that time of year folks, when the Times Square ball has dropped, a New Year has begun, and the Holiday Season is officially over. Even though I know the inevitable outcome, I always seem find myself in a bit of a post-holiday-cheer funk. When the decorations have to go back in their boxes, and it’s no longer acceptable to eat ten Christmas cookies and blame it on the season. It’s simply winter, and it can feel oh so long.
In an attempt to combat said funk, I have created a Christmas Memories book as a way to preserve the holidays through the ages.
I decided on the Geneva guest book from Kolo, a favorite brand of mine when it comes to archiving. They make wonderfully constructed and classically designed photo boxes, albums and scrapbooks. They are a little pricey, but when you consider the memories they hold it’s a small price to pay for years of trips down memory lane.
I settled on the Geneva design because each set of pages comes with one which is blank and one which is ruled. I use a very strong double sided photo archival tape to affix our yearly holiday card to the blank side, and on the ruled side I compose a summary of how we spent the holiday season.
For example this year I wrote:
This year we found ourselves celebrating the holidays in Kansas City! Jürgen and I were cast in a production of The Game’s Afoot with The New Theatre Restaurant which kept us busy throughout the holiday season. Mom, Dad, Neill and Jamie arrived a few days before Christmas to see the show, explore the city and spend the holiday’s with us. On Christmas Eve we took them for some authentic KC BBQ at Oklahoma Joe’s followed by some ice skating at the Crown Center. It had been years since any of us had hit the ice, but we managed to emerge unscathed (thank goodness!). That evening we had a great meal at Tannin Wine Bar followed by midnight mass at The Catherdral of the Immaculate Conception for Jürgen, mom and myself. Christmas morning we had our annual Christmas Brunch (the coffee cake was perfect) and our castmate Nathan joined us in celebrating. In the afternoon we went to see a showing of Les Misérables (which received mixed reviews from all of us) after which we came home, made personal pan pizzas and opened gifts. The night was complete with an hysterical game of Cards Against Humanity. Two days later “Mom and Dad Hooper” and Stefanie arrived. We had lots of performances while they were here but we managed to have a fantastic meal at Bluestem (for their 33rd wedding anniversary), check out the Toy and Miniature Museum and pay OK Joe’s another visit. Stefanie stayed on to ring in 2013 with us at the New Theatre’s NYE Gala. A wonderful holiday in a new city!
While it can’t replace the joy that is the holiday season, it’s fun to have a small piece of it documented for posterity. The book I chose has thirty sets of pages…this means it will be with me through 2039(!) I am sure I will look the exact same after thirty years.
Do you have any special ways you hold onto memories of holidays past?