The holiday season is upon us full of holiday meals, happy gatherings, and opening of presents. The warmth of these times with friends and loved ones is so enjoyable that the memories being created are inspiration enough for us to capture them with photos. While the flash of a camera is a very traditional way of preserving the season's memories in scrapbook albums, why not consider these other unique ways of capturing family memories this holiday season:

• At your holiday party, dinner, or event, give your family and friends a piece of acid-free scrapbook paper, or journaling labels, and ask them to write down their idea of what makes the holiday season so special. It can be a word, phrase or a paragraph. Be sure to have them sign their paper. Preserving these snippets will allow future generations to see not only who was in attendance at your holiday gathering, but also see a sample of everyone's handwriting and the flare or style with which each person signs their name. Also, in their answer you'll have their thoughts and feelings; even their personalities will come through in their response to this, or your own topic question. You can then arrange the papers on a on larger piece of acid free paper or card stock, along with those traditional photos you took, for framing or putting in your holiday scrapbook album (be sure to include the year and your own answer). Or try scanning some of the handwritten words or phrases and use the images to decorate the front of next year's holiday cards or party invitations that you make yourself.
• Put into scrapbook albums distinctive items from this particular holiday season: a newspaper ad with sale items (future generations will love to see not only the stores which may or may not still be in business, but the prices of particular items as well as today's fashions); the movie page from the newspaper with this year's holiday films; holiday cards - not only a sampling of those you receive, but also preserve one of your own that you sent out this year; a holiday postage stamp from this season (this is another item whose price may be on interest to your descendants); a worship program from a holiday service; or assembly instructions from a gift you received. The ideas are limitless.
• Scan an ancestral photo or an old family holiday photo (enlarge it if necessary) and use it as the background paper, matted by larger paper if desired, for scrapbooking this year's holiday photos.
• Capture the voices as well as photos of your friends and loved ones. You can do this with video tape, cassette tape, or digital memory buttons. You can even include these items in your scrapbook albums.

No matter how you chose to capture the memories from this holiday season, be sure to preserve them so future generations can enjoy them too.

Be sure to also read our article on creating your own Holiday Traditions.