December Daily® Storytelling | Special Guest Kelly Ishmael

Hi friends. My name is Kelly Ishmael, and I am delighted and honored to be here with you today to share my insights and experience with December Daily® storytelling as an empty-nester.

As I was going back through previous projects in preparation for this blog post, it dawned on me that I didn’t start documenting December stories until after my daughter went to college. I have been a memory-keeper for over 25 years with dozens of scrapbooks that have multitudes of layouts devoted to the holidays, but my only December Daily® projects have been as an empty-nester.

My first foray into December documenting was in 2012 with a DIY mini-album, and I can still recall the absolute joy I felt while making it.

At the time, it was my way of affirming that there were still plenty of things to document and plenty of joy to be found during the holidays even while my daughter was away at college. Something I had struggled with in prior years.

Spoiler Alert…There was then and there still is now.

Fast forward 11 years and December Daily® has become one of my favorite memory-keeping projects. And today I wanted to share a couple of the big “a-ha” moments that have helped me with my approach to this project and inspired me to see the month of December in a new light.

Insight #1 | It’s Not The End

There is a meme you might have seen along the lines of “You only have 18 Summers (or in this case Christmases) with your kids living at home.” I think the idea behind this sentiment is to encourage us to be present with our children and to cherish the moments we have with them. The problem that I have with this way of thinking is that it can put undue pressure on parents or cause even more anxiety about being an empty-nester.

The other issue I have with this notion is that it assumes that these 18 years are the only time that we’ll have to make special memories with our children. Which is just total nonsense and also completely untrue. The simple fact of the matter is that some of my favorite December memories have been with my daughter in the years after she left home.

Now admittedly, it’s a different experience having an adult child, but in some ways, it is even more special because of the way it documents how our relationship has grown and evolved over the years.

In addition to the memories we share together, one of the other special things about this season of life is being a witness to the story my daughter is writing for herself. I love including photos and stories that Kelsey shares with me about the holiday memories she is making or including stories about some of the big moments in her life during the month of December.

Insight #2 | My December Story

One of the biggest shifts in my December Daily® documenting came from something Ali said in one of her classes, and that is “I am the main character in my story.” What that meant for me was changing my internal narrative from that of “I am preserving my family’s holiday memories” to “I am telling my December story.”

As supporting characters, my family is a very big part of my story, so obviously they are a big part of my December Daily® albums. But in addition to more family-oriented stories, I love including stories that document little moments of delight and joy as I go about my December days.

These days I tend to approach December Daily® as documenting and celebrating everyday life with the holidays as the background or setting to my stories. This mindset has taken the pressure off of looking for or creating holiday stories, and instead allows me to simply be present to the beauty, magic, and wonder of the season in whatever shape that takes.

If you are an empty-nester (or if your empty-nest is looming off in the distance), my hope is that this post encourages you and inspires you to see the holiday season and this season of your life in a new way. I promise you that there is so much good stuff in store, and there are so many awesome new stories waiting to be told.

Thank you so much for allowing me to share my stories with you. You can see more of my December Daily® photos and stories on Instagram and my website.

Finally, a huge thank you to Ali for creating this special project. Her advocacy for personal storytelling has been a huge inspiration to me these past several years.

Love, Kelly

P.S. If you are an empty-nester (or soon to be empty-nester) who is struggling with this big life transition, a few years ago, I created a class on Ali's site called Empty Nest + New Stories. The goal of this workshop is to help you to acknowledge your feelings + emotions, to encourage you to be brave and ask yourself the hard questions, and to inspire you to embrace and enjoy this new chapter of your life.