Without doing a whole lot this year, it still seems to have gone by very quickly (which is maybe not such a bad thing!), and somehow it's the 1st December!

Christmas is my most favourite time of year, and also time for a personal project that I've been shooting since 2013...

25 Days🎄🎅🏻⠀⠀

It's a photography project that isn't skills based at all, some days are just quick snaps on my phone, but instead is a project that keeps me accountable for capturing my family's memories during this magical (and slightly crazy!) time of year. It's a project that makes us slow down, spend time together, have fun and give back, every day in the lead up to Christmas.
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In a nutshell, instead of doing the traditional chocolate/gift advent calendars, each day we do a Christmas activity together and I capture it. And we all absolutely LOVE it!
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If you'd like to do it too, I'm sharing a few tips below to get started…AND you don't need to be a photographer to take part! Plus there are no rules, so if 25 days sounds like way too much right now, you can completely make it your own. Do the 12 days of Christmas instead or an activity a week. Want to only use your phone, go for it! Or only shoot video, do it! Make it YOUR project and do whatever suits you and your family.

Tips to get started with your own 25 Days Project:

• Grab a blank calendar and your diary and put any Christmas related activities you already have booked in into your 25 days calendar (kids concerts, tree lighting, family parties, etc). Then fill in the rest of the calendar with different activities. Pinterest will be your friend here! I like to include a mix of going out as a family (get the tree, xmas events, look at lights, etc), to crafts, baking, some easy ones (watching Christmas movies and reading Christmas stories), as well as activities that involve giving back to our community.

• We won’t be able to do some of our regular activities this year due to COVID, but there are still PLENTY of options, so don’t let COVID stop you from starting your own project. And remember that this project is all about slowing down and spending time together as a family, so even if you’re in lockdown, it’s still 100% do-able!

• Remember to schedule in some quick and easy activities, especially on days where you're busy with school, activities, meetings, work, etc. You will get tired, your kids will get tired, and you will definitely need some easy days! December is such a crazy month as it is so there is no need to overcomplicate the activities! Simple ideas can be "Wear a Santa hat," "Draw a Christmas picture," "Read a Christmas book," "Watch a Christmas movie.” You can also get specific with the book and movie titles, then you can use different ones on different days. This is what I do! We have a Polar Express Day, a Home Alone day, a Charlie Brown Christmas Day, etc.

• Make sure you choose age appropriate activities for your family. Some crafts and activities you'll see on Pinterest are definitely better suited to older children (speaking from experience)!

• You'll need a calendar of some sort where you will open your activity for the day. After our first year doing this project, and how much we all loved it, I knew it would be a family tradition so I invested in a home-made calendar on Etsy, but that is definitely not a requirement. Our first year, I hung up holiday tags with Christmas tape over the mantle and wrote the activity on the back of the tag. You could also use a Christmas bowl that you put the activity in each day, or brown paper bags hung on a string, or put them in a stocking or Santa hat.. There are lots of inexpensive options.

• Volunteering and giving back to our community is extremely important to me so we try and incorporate some charitable activities as well so the kids understand the true meaning of the holiday. We've been doing this since they were little but have changed the activities slightly as they've gotten older and understand more. Again, choose age appropriate activities for your family.

• Don't put your activities in the calendar too far in advance. It’s good to have a plan at the start of the month for when you’ll do the activities, but you’ll also want to keep it flexible, and have a few backup activities just in case. Things come up, people get sick, or tired, or you aren't prepared with materials, so you'll want to be able to move things around if need be. Bonus points if you have little kids as one of the benefits of having kids that can't read yet is that you can make up something different on the spot (I used to do this when I just didn't have the energy for more than a movie, but those days are over in our house!).

• If you're planning on some crafts or food related activities, make sure you plan enough in advance to have all the materials needed, or again have flexibility in your calendar so you can swap it out for a different day after you’ve been to the shops.

• If you do this year after year, you'll quickly learn what activities are favourites that you'll want to repeat. Besides the big ones that we will always do (get a xmas tree, read “A Night Before Christmas,” go see Santa, go see the lights) here are a few of ours:

  • Christmas bubble milk - a firm favourite!

  • Oreo snowman cookies

  • North Pole dinner

  • Christmas card paper chain (ours is quite long now!)

  • Christmas Dance Party (a super easy one for busy days!)

  • Make a gingerbread house

And finally, and most importantly:

• Let go of perfection! Remember the idea behind this project is to spend time together as a family. Some of the activities will be easier to document than others. Some may require your involvement a lot more than others where you just can't pick up the camera/phone. So be okay with a quick snap, or a phone selfie. You may also find some activities you want to document a lot more than others and may end up with 10 images from one day and only one the next, and that is perfectly okay!

After your 25 Days is finished, you’ll probably want to take a break (well at least I always do!). But then make sure at some point you go back through all of your images and videos and do something with them. Some ideas are making a slideshow, making a photo book or album, using them in a blog, share them to your socials, print a few to frame or put them in a digital frame to use as holiday decorations the next year.

If you decide to create your own 25 Days project, I’d love to see it! So be sure to tag me on Instagram @jennyrusbyphotography if you share any images.

I hope your family loves it as much as mine does!

Happy Holidays!

Jenny is a natural light, lifestyle and documentary photographer and specialised newborn photographer, maternity photographer and family photographer. She services all areas of Victoria, including inner Melbourne suburbs such as Richmond, Northcote, Fitzroy, Collingwood, Malvern East, South Melbourne, Elwood, as well as outer south eastern subrubs, bayside areas such as Morntington, Sorrento and Red Hill. She also services the west of Melbourne and will travel to Geelong on request.