Traditions Worth Keeping: Family Yearbooks

For some reason I really like thinking of fun little traditions our family can take part in, (like Christmas in July!), but the executing of these said traditions is a whole 'nother story.  On Fridays I suggested we take part in Family Game Night - problem is...I kind of, sort of, don't really like playing games.  It's not the games, it's me.  I'm just so tired of winning - I'd rather cuddle up on the couch, scarf popcorn and watch movies.  The other two men in my family love games, so I'm sure a compromise is in order.  Then I created a date night jar and a bucket list, both of which have only been used once. While many traditions in this household have been abandoned along the way there's one tradition in our household that we've kept around.

I hinted at these yearbooks when I was organizing the tv cabinet.  Each year I make a Padgett Family Yearbook which highlights the past year's travel and activities in photos.  We have 8 books and counting (fingers crossed.)  The first one starts during our dating adventures, which began in 2005, then fast-forwards through 2006 because this girl went a little crazy and suffered from a bout of commitment-phobia.  But don't fret, things resumed in 2007 and have been going strong ever since with couple extra additions that have made their way into our stack - like our wedding album and one dedicated to our little man.

For the most part, I order hardcover books with a photo window, a black linen cover and black background pages.  But I'm not stuck on that specific style and tend to shop around for the best deal so the covers and sizes do change from time to time.  I've snagged coupons from Shutterfly for a free book and other times I get a great deal from MyPublisher. Both companies offer high-quality printing and great looking books and the process is super easy with both.  You can customize each page with specific photos, sizes and text or you can go the super simple route and have it automatically generated with the photos you upload.

These books also make great gifts for family members.  We've given a special book of photos of Luke to his grandparents and they loved it - a big ol' brag book of sorts.  One of my favorite things is to look back at each book so I hope this is one tradition that never loses steam. 

What traditions do you or your families take part in?