Scrapbooking for 3 days straight may sound like a weird form of torture... but even after the paper cuts, late nights, and reeeeally early mornings, I look forward to it twice a year.
My family’s crazy little tradition is called "Scrapbook Weekend". If you’re anything like me; you have a busy schedule, a suffering photo album, talkative friends and family, and an endless appetite for good cooking. Scrapbook Weekend gives me the chance to learn new layouts, trade materials, or just catch-up on all my photos.
Twice a year, all my aunts and cousins (about 18-20 people total) drive to my mom’s house with cars full photos, paper supplies, and the fixin's for some great food. We load all the food in the fridge, spread out our cutters, paper, pictures and embellishments on about 6 or 7 Lifetime tables, and camp out for 3 days… stacking pages like we’re warming up for "Scrapbooking with the Stars". We always put the tables in a square formation to facilitate talking. I’m not really sure why... we seem to have no problem doing that otherwise. You learn a LOT: who’s kids are just starting school, my aunt's new neighbors, the latest cooking trick, my aunt's new singing group, my cousin who’s falling in love, and some stories so funny they’ll make you cut crooked.
Scrapbook Weekend is really the only time I sit down and do some major damage to the 'ol album... if you saw my pages you'd know what I mean ;). This year I brought a fat stack of wedding and honeymoon photos. Good thing my mom stepped in; I actually ended up with some pretty sweet layouts. But even with the help, I was a scrapbook slave. The last to go to bed and the first to wake up. I plowed through my college days, wedding preparation, some of my wedding day, and skipped to our Cancun honeymoon.
Indisputably, the best thing about Scrapbook Weekend is the food. We're not a family of gourmet cooks, but some of my aunts could probably host on the Food Network. They seem to compete for the best recipe. Which means three days of eating better than a newlywed could ever dream!
This Scrapbook Weekend I came home with a few more pounds — but our album gained some too. I think it's a pretty fair trade-off. Since the weekend, I've set up a Personal Table to work at home, and haven't touched my album. I salute all you scrapbookers who can dedicate time every week to your scrapbooking! At least I know it's there... patiently waiting for me to organize my life.