September 30, 2010

Skip Halloween move to Christmas

Halloween? Yay!! Christmas? WHAT?! I can NOT believe when I went shopping last night, Halloween stuff was on clearance to make way for Christmas decor. I threw up in my mouth a little.  Then I went home, and fretted over what I am making/buying  for the holidays.


My friend received  an awesome gift  from her aunt after her recent wedding, a cookbook containing family recipes and memories.  After flipping through it - I would love to create the same tradition for my family.  Having six aunts, my mother, grandmother, and  cousins/sisters - we have dozens of favorite meals when it comes to the holidays/birthdays/family functions.  Why not create a binder to store all  of our family classics?


I searched the blogs (my favorite) for inspiration of how to set this project up.  Here is what I came up with:


Family Cookbook: Each page should contain a recipe, varied ideas and notes, and perhaps a picture of a family member taken within the last year(or perhaps what event the recipe is from!). However, I don't think each recipe will have a picture - because it might look too busy.  Each year (or every other year) I could continue to add to the binder, typing up new recipes that we've tried for that year and adding new pictures. I think using a large binder, divided into sections (appetizers, meat, desserts, etc.) would work.  Perhaps actually making use of the sheet protectors I have stored in the basement will make it spill proof? I'll have to figure out a system to date each recipe of when it was submitted so we know when it was added and who added them!  



Have to figure out how I am going to organize my recipes...and what program I am going to use to format them. I sent an email to nine women in our family, and asked them for their top 5 favorite recipes, or what they are known for (what people request most often).  I didn't give them any hints of why I needed them, as I wanted to make it a surprise.  I am thinking that for the first year, I won't add too many pictures or stories because I would rather people add what they want without letting on to what I am creating for Christmas.  

Any suggestions on how to create this? 



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3 hearts about my post:

viewfromdownhere said...

Yikes! I can't think about Christmas yet! But that is a really cute idea, though. Good for you for getting that started..you have much more motivation than I do!

Unknown said...

Wow! This project looks wonderful. What special gift1

katlupe said...

Great ideas!