Do you find the winter months overshadowed by Christmas planning?  Maybe you want to be organised with gifts and decorations?  Perhaps you wish you had a way to keep memories of family gatherings and traditions.

Hello, it’s Alex (@TheJournalCorner) from the Archer and Olive ambassador team.  Today we are going to look at how to create a Festive Journal.

This blog post will take you through ideas and inspiration to use a notebook to manage what is a busy time of year for many of us.  Whether you are hosting family, a parent juggling the end of a long school term or just looking to make time to unwind at Christmas, these ideas will help you.

Remember you can also find a video of this plan at the end of this page if you prefer to watch.  I have also created a printable to help you setup your own Festive Journal, adapting the ideas I share today.

Supplies needed

Of course in order to create a Festive Journal, you will need a notebook!  There are often some beautiful winter themed ones in Archer & Olive’s winter launch.  Hopefully you will use this journal for a few years, so it would be nice to have one you associate with this time of year.  Take a look at the Archer & Olive journals currently available here.  

Today, we are going to be brainstorming ideas using pens such as the calliographs and a writing pen.  I am going to use a B5 notepad to collate them all together.  When actually creating your pages you can be as minimal or decorative as you wish.  It’s always nice to add some themed washi tape and stickers onto your pages. In the past I have used the acrylograph paint pens over lettering to create a hygge type effect too.

If you are looking to purchase anything from Archer & Olive, please use ‘Alex10’ to save 10%. This is an affiliate code, so it allows you to support creators like me too.

Brainstorm

Of course this time of year can be different for everyone - it may be hectic or an opportunity to hibernate and relax!  Hopefully you can find some ideas however this time of year looks for you.  

To help ensure this journal works for you, spend 10minutes or so thinking about the areas that you would like to feel more organised with.  Is it food preparation to host family?  Maybe it’s all the additional events at this time of year or the pressure to ensure the children have a magical Christmas!  It can also have a self-care focus, perhaps Christmas is the only time of year you get to relax.

Try to write down a few areas that we can focus on when we break down our list.  I have kept a festive journal since 2020 and it’s been useful to divide it into 3 sections.

1. Annual Lists - to add to each winter, so you can easily look back and compare year to year.
2. Collections - a page of ideas and lists that you create at one time (although you could still add to at a later date)
3. A section dedicated to one particular winter

Planning Our Festive Journal

Using a B5 notepad, we are going to list out and categorise some ideas which I will also go into more detail for.  In addition to the notepad, I am going to use a calliograph to create a highlight effect I could then write over with a pen.

Annual Lists

Firstly lets look at what type of lists would be useful to have that can be added to each year. If you can leave enough space, some can be really helpful and interesting to look back on and compare year after year too.  

For example, you could include and update each year:

• Christmas Card List
• Decorations owned
• Tree Purchase - when, where, cost
• Gifts bought for St.Nicholas/Christmas Eve Box
• Festive Tableware owned
• Baking Supplies Owned - Christmas themed

Ideas for Collections

In a Bullet Journal, a collection is a group of related ideas.  For our festive journal, these pages can still be added to each year but work as more of a helpful reference page once initially setup.

For example, you could include:

• Favourite festive movies to watch
• Winter Craft activities
• Elf on the Shelf Ideas
• Bucket List for Winter
• Ideas for Teacher Thank you Gifts
• Family Traditions to remember 
• Favourite Festive Food
• Planning Ahead - food to buy early/what to make at home
• Winter prep for the house + clothing needed
• Local Events to attend each year

Dedicated Pages for Each Year

While these ideas are all useful, if you are looking for a more organised Christmas, you will need to dedicate some pages just to focus on one year at a time.

I have found repeating these means I have 8-10 pages dedicated to each year to look back on which helps me organise subsequent years.

First I create a title page, not essential but a nice way to divide up the year.  I have used old Christmas card as decoration before.

Next, we can introduce the gift list.  This will change each year so I haven’t included until now.  I will list out everyone we need to buy for and leave space to also jot down ideas, budget and when it is purchased.  

If you need to ‘hide’ a gift list, why not create a little pocket or use a small envelope so it’s harder for prying eyes to spot!

Following these pages, I create a table for gifts received.  This will act as a helpful reminder for who we need to write thank you notes to and for which gift.

For the past few year I have also included a double page summary of events we attended.  This acts as a reminder of how busy this time of year can be but also helps me to recall whether something was worth the money or effort to travel at this time of year.

As we go through the Christmas period, it’s always lovely to have somewhere to keep a record of memories, especially if you have a young family.  Although I keep a daily diary, I find collating a summary into my festive journal means I can easily refer memories year to year.

I repeat the same categories each year to help this comparison, and just write a small paragraph for each:

• Where we were
• Who we celebrated with
• Memorable Moments
• Food we Enjoyed
• New Year Plans

Of course you can adapt and add to these to suit your own Christmas period.  

Top Tip!

The most useful page in my Festive Journal each year, is my ‘notes for next year’ spread.  This allows me to jot down things that will help me keep organised for the subsequent Christmas.

For example:

Things to Remember 

• What food to buy early/make ahead of time
• Any broken decorations/lights to replace?
• Gift Paper and Wrap supply level
• Will Christmas Clothing still fit next year?
• Any meet ups we missed doing to ensure plan 
• January Birthdays to plan ahead for

Printable and Video

Please take a look at the printable below to save you time in your journal.  Don’t forget to watch the video to see more on this process too.

Summary

I hope you have found these ideas useful and can think of a project to apply them to.

For more journal inspiration come and say hello @thejournalcorner. We always love to see your creations, so please tag @archerandolive or use #aoshare on Instagram.

The Archer & Olive blog has a lot of articles to help inspire your journaling this winter. Take a look at ideas to prepare for this season, or how to create a bucket list journal page.