Hobbies Are Supposed to Be Fun

Did I mention what I did this past weekend? I don't think I did. I went on my annual scrapbooking getaway with my mother-in-law.

Our Creative Memories consultant hosts a scrapping weekend in the spring and in the fall. I usually just attend one - this year it was the spring retreat. We travel about an hour and 1/2 to a quaint town in Maryland. We stay in a hotel and the hotel also provides their conference room which is where about 30-40 ladies set up their supplies and scrap to their heart's content.

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Two days. No children. Quiet. Time devoted to scrapbooking. Aaah.

Now, I have to tell you that scrapbooking is one of those hobbies that I enjoy and that I think is a great way to record some of life's great memories. It is also time-consuming. And, space is a precious commodity in my house. I have nowhere to set up my supplies and leave them out. If I want to scrapbook at home I have to pull everything out when my kids are sleeping and then put it away again. Frankly, that's a bit too much work for me.

Wouldn't this be a great room to have? Alas, only in my dreams...

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I had been introduced to scrapbooking when I was still a single woman, but it wasn't until I was married and had my first child that I really did anything with it. Then, I almost felt like it was mandatory. I HAD to preserve these cherished memories in a creative, lasting way.

My first son has the most scrapbooking pages devoted to his early life.

Then I had another son. And another. And another. Suddenly my goals of scrapping each and every important event in my childrens' lives (for individual scrapbooks) and in our family (for the joint family scrapbook) didn't seem very realistic anymore. Especially since I was really only scrapping once a year on the weekend retreat.

I drastically adjusted my goals.

I have a baby book for each boy which covers his birth and first couple weeks of life. I just finished Joseph's (my youngest) this weekend (and he's 15 months old). Maybe someday I'll add more pages. But, for now, this is good enough.

I added one new goal when my oldest entered school. That is to have a school album for each boy. It will just be a few pages for each year of school. So far, I've started this for my oldest. He's in 2nd grade and I only have his Kindergarten year complete. My second son is in Kindergarten now and I haven't started his school album yet. With four children who will eventually be in school, I will have to evaluate if this is a realistic goal or not.

For now, that's it. I would love to also have birthday albums & a family Christmas album. But, the more goals I add the more my hobby starts to seem like work.

And, hobbies are supposed to be fun.

As women we sometimes create expectations for ourselves that no one else necessarily has. I found myself falling into this trap with my scrapbooking hobby. So, now I'm trying to keep a more level head.

And, now I'm able to enjoy myself.