Scrapbook of Childhood Memories

My eldest son just turned 30, although sometimes it seems like he was just born yesterday.  His safe arrival was the best Christmas present ever, especially after the struggle we had the few years prior to his birth.  A few months ago I started thinking of something I could do to commemorate this special birthday.  I much prefer unique DIY projects rather than store-bought gifts.  Over the years I have collected childhood memories in the form of ribbons, pictures, schoolwork, even teeth and hair from all three sons.  I planned to use this huge bucket of memorabilia to make a scrapbook for each son, eventually.  As I was wracking my brain for something to do or make, I remembered the bucket, stored with all of our other “stuff” in the basement, and the birthday scrapbook project took off.

I started with a catchy cover, but I guess you had to be there to understand just how significant it is.  When our boys were young, we always sang “happy birthday, birthday boy” to them on their special days.  I think they found it more annoying than funny, but I think it makes a perfect title for the scrapbook…

First I had to wade through all the items in the stored bucket.  I swear I have saved every report card, birthday card, award, and more.  Years ago, when scrapbooking was the rage, I was ambitious enough to divide the memorabilia into three separate buckets, one for each son, but that was as far as I got. I even purchased one large 18×18 inch scrapbook around the same time with good intentions.  It was still in its packaging, just waiting for me to put it to use.  A friend supplied lots of stamps, stickers, fancy scissors and other scrapbooking paraphernalia she had collected over the years.

My first page was dedicated to my son’s first few days of life.  I had a copy of his family tree (from his baby book) hospital bracelets, pictures of him with his grandparents, newspaper birth announcements and even a newspaper clipping of what was going on in the world in 1989…

Pictures and mementos from his early years were next, including a few baby teeth and a sample of his first haircut…

…followed by pictures of him with most of his family members. Mom & Dad, brothers, grandparents, cousins, aunts and uncles.

Next came Christmas memories, mostly pictures, with two personalized letters from Santa, courtesy of a friend’s father who spent hours writing back to children every year.  I had also saved a few decorations used at a New Year’s Eve street party celebrating the turn of the century…

Another page was dedicated to birthdays.  Lots of party pictures, with a special “pocket” created to hold birthday cards, especially the handmade ones from friends and his younger brothers…

Hanging With My Friends was the next page, displaying pictures of accumulated friends from pre-kindergarten to university. The picture in the top left corner appears fuzzy due to the steam off the hot tub my sons and the neighbourhood kids used to love to hang out in…

My son played many sports growing up and is a huge sports fan as well.  The next page contains many ticket stubs, Brier autographs, pictures of sporting events and stadiums visited, as well as two curling idols, Brad Gushue and Wayne Middaugh…

The next two pages are full of vacation memories: Texas, San Francisco, Florida, New Orleans, Dominican Republic, Cuba, NYC, and our family cottage here in Ontario, with the second page reserved for our trip to Hawaii.  Mementos include ticket stubs from various attractions, a boarding pass to Hawaii, and lots of pictures.

My son attended both Beavers and Cubs within Kanata Scouts, so I had lots of memorabilia in those categories…

Soccer (outdoor and indoor) is a sport he played and still plays, 25 years and counting…

The other sport he started young and still plays is curling.  In fact, he met his wife at the curling rink way back in the Little Rocks program.  He has so many accolades in the curling world that I had to dedicate two pages to the sport…

Other sports played included volleyball, swimming, T-ball, and cross-country running…

When he wasn’t playing or watching a sport, he was at piano lessons or practicing at home. At the time, he was the youngest to take lessons at Music For Young Children, starting at the age of 2.5 years old!  His first recital was just before he turned 3 where he nailed Row, Row, Row Your Boat.  We discovered his love for the piano when he would often go across our street to play the neighbour’s piano.  She just happened to make puppets for MYC, so knew the founder, convincing her to let my son try the lessons at such a young age…

I had lots of memorabilia saved from the three schools my son attended from kindergarten through high school.  There are four pages for Castlefrank Elementary School with two of them exhibiting his early artwork and writing journals. The pink piece in the top right corner of the first picture is a cupid, on a valentine’s card he gave to us.  One page is dedicated to Katimavik Elementary School where he attended grades 7 and 8.  A fourth page is for Earl of March Secondary School, grades 9 through 12. The awards in the packets are for his honor roll and math contest achievements…

After high school my son attended Queen’s University in Kingston Ontario, graduating in 2011 with a degree in Civil Engineering.  I didn’t have as much paraphernalia from those four years, most likely because he did not live at home.  The next page combines items from his jobs over the years as well as the Queen’s stuff I did mange to accumulate, including a false ID.

The last page is entitled “the Next Chapter” with mementos from his new house, engagement, wedding, the birth of his daughter and his new, expanding family…

This scrapbook was lots of work, but definitely a labour of love and a sentimental walk down memory lane for me.  I knew I saved all that stuff for a reason!  I hope I have inspired some of you to put your collection of memorabilia to good use too.