The Christmas Spirit Keepsake
Memories, kindness and little wishes. Days 1 to 24, plus Christmas Day.
A free printable journal for December, for children aged 5 to 11 and the grown-ups who print it for them. There's a page for each day from Day 1 to Day 24, and one for Christmas Day, each with room to draw or write a little memory. There's no right way to use it. Skip a day whenever you want, come back later, or leave it blank. As the welcome page says, "A drawing counts as writing. A scribble counts as a picture."
It's free to print for home use.
Download
Pick the size that suits your printer, in colour or low-ink. Each is a 45-page PDF.
Colour
Low-ink
One for the grown-up to print: there's no need to send us anything, and no child's details are ever needed.
What's inside (45 pages)
- A cover with "This book belongs to" and a space for the year, so it works whichever December you start it.
- A hello from Pip, our friendly guide, and a page of notes for grown-ups.
- Christmas me: a page to fill in now, with a matching Christmas me, looking back page near the end.
- Things we love to do, for family traditions old, new or just beginning.
- My wishlist, with a column for "wishes that aren't things". As the page says: "A wish list, not a shopping list."
- A letter to Father Christmas, or, if you like, a letter to someone you love, or to December itself.
- A menu of tiny kindnesses: thirty little ideas that are free or almost free, to tick if you like. "One is already wonderful."
- Days 1 to 24. Eighteen days have one page each: a memory to draw or write, a small thought, a tiny kindness to try (or not), and a "How I did it" space. Six special days have two pages each: Lights I noticed, A recipe for Christmas spirit, Something tasty we made or shared, Thank you, Something I gave, or did, and A little Christmas story.
- Christmas Day, then Kindness I spread this December (twelve bauble shapes to fill), Memories I want to keep, Next Christmas I'd love to…, and a thank-you page with one last doodle.
Options, not rules
Day pages invite you to skip, leave blank, or come back later. Most end with "Not this time, that's fine." There are no streaks and no catching up. Print every page, or only the ones you like, in any order.
Printing
- A4 or US Letter: pick the size that suits your printer.
- Colour or low-ink: the low-ink version is about 48% lighter on average than the colour one (every page at least 40% lighter), measured on our 300 ppi page renders. All the words and write-in lines are still there. The colour files are about 20 MB each and the low-ink files about 10 MB.
- Prints on ordinary white paper. It's for flat printing, not a folded booklet. If you print double-sided, the back of the last page is blank, because there are 45 pages.
Your keepsake is above, and it's yours either way.
A small letter, about once a month
If you'd like a little something to try together, we'll send you one new free activity about once a month, with the odd article and news of our journals. It's a short, friendly email, and you can stop it whenever you like.
As a thank-you, you'll get our free Christmas keepsake to print.
We'll email you a link to confirm first, and nothing else until you click it. Your address is kept by our email provider, MailerLite, in the EU. Our privacy notice explains how we use it. This sign-up is for grown-ups, so please don't enter a child's details.