How can you give a gift that will go on giving long after it is unwrapped, lauded and put away? If you are considering making a personal scrapbook for some of the special people on your list, check out some of these Christmas scrapbooking ideas listed below. (You may have to concentrate on a few people if you are pressed for time. Next year, you can do the people you missed this time around.) It’s no small job, and will require planning on your part, but when you are finished, your Christmas scrapbooking idea is sure to be the talk of all the family this holiday season.

Think of yourself as the FBI and that maniac, J. Edgar Hoover. Keep secret files (photos, etc.) just like he did on everyone who is the subject of your Christmas scrapbook idea. Only work when inspired. It will show otherwise. Gather photos and ephemera enthusiastically. Use only those items that make you laugh, cry or seriously reflect on that person, or you with that person, or something along those lines. Sort the wheat from the chaff (but not necessarily in that order). If you are ambivalent about including pieces in your Christmas scrapbooking ideas, they probably don’t belong.

Decide on the type of scrapbook you want to make. Here are some thoughts on that.

• If you want a recipe album, concentrate on a few recipes that are especially meaningful to the subject of your Christmas scrapbooking idea. Follow the course of history for the particular family member as connected to that recipe or recipes (photos eating, making, transporting, enjoying, etc). Considering the levity of the occasion, focus on desserts for your Christmas scrapbooking ideas, if you can.

• Christmas scrapbooking ideas for young children

ABC scrapbooks are the perfect Christmas scrapbooking ideas for kids and they are very easy to make. Devote each page of your Christmas scrapbook idea to one letter of the alphabet. Use photos and other ephemera to illustrate each letter in a personal way. For example, A is for Aunt Betty, etc.

• Teachers appreciate homemade gifts from students. For your Christmas scrapbooking idea, consider helping your child make an album for a special teacher on your gift list. If you really are organized and start early enough in developing your Christmas scrapbook idea, you might even be able to coordinate a “group gift” by sending each child in the class a page to make for your Christmas scrapbooking idea.

•Teenagers and pre-teens are a more difficult group per se, as their ideas are constantly changing with the different fads and trends. Two weeks from now an adored rock star may well be a thing of the past, and thus, developing Christmas scrapbooking ideas for this age group can be a challenging venture. Consider a “friends” scrapbook for your Christmas scrapbooking idea with pre-made pages for photos, addresses, phone numbers, email (and MySpace) addresses for each special friend.

• One simple Christmas scrapbooking idea for grandparents should involve photos. Try to get everyone in the family involved. For different grandparents, you can duplicate pages to make multiple scrapbooks.

• Special, unexpected touches to your Christmas scrapbooking ideas can include the kind of trappings you use to decorate your unique Christmas scrapbooks. Save pieces of wrapping paper to use for the picture backgrounds of your Christmas scrapbooking ideas. Use the ribbons from your Christmas gifts for decoration by tying bits and pieces along the spine of your Christmas scrapbooking ideas. Have the children write letters to Santa and save, scan or reduce them for use as embellishments for your holiday pages.

• If you are really strapped for time like so many of us are but are determined to execute your homemade Christmas scrapbooking idea nonetheless, consider purchasing some of the many bound hard cover digital photo books that are available on photo Websites. You can still be the captain of the desired design with your own digital photos, albeit online. This Christmas scrapbooking idea can be very cost-effective and you can order multiple copies for several people on your Christmas scrapbooking idea list.

• Finishing touches for your Christmas scrapbooking idea can include a last section that includes your thoughts, feelings, plans and hopes for the years to come.

Start working on your Christmas scrapbooking ideas now while there’s still a bit of time. A rush job always shows and if you organize yourself, you can get these Christmas scrapbooking ideas completed in plenty of time for Christmas. Celebrate your memories and give them a way to live again and again. They are the gifts that last.

Most Christmas scrapbooking ideas stress the importance of tradition. Clearly, Christmas traditions are the easiest subject matter of Christmas scrapbooking ideas. After all, every family has their own tradition, and the individual ones are often the ideal choices for Christmas scrapbooking ideas.

Scrappers and their families need to think about their own personal traditions, which make for ideal subject mater for Christmas scrapbooking ideas. Some traditions have their roots back so far, that the family may not even be aware that it is a tradition.

For example, the tradition of opening presents. Some families open presents on Christmas Eve while everyone is gathered, some open one present on Christmas Eve, and some wait until Christmas morning. One could easily make a scrapbook page out of that. It might be a good excuse to get the camera and list when everyone else just wants to rip off wrapping.

Other Christmas scrapbooking ideas include the “trimming of the tree”. If your family gets a Christmas tree and decorates it every year, then every ornament probably has some memory attached to it. Perhaps each ornament is a reminder of some Christmas past. Simply taking pictures of ornaments and writing simple text about them is one of the easiest of Christmas scrapbooking ideas.

Decorating the house is always an important Christmas tradition that is one of the easiest Christmas scrapbooking ideas. It seems like every neighborhood has some person on the block who decorates to the point of over-decorating, but his or her house is always visited by the neighbors. Some scrappers might be the person who actually does all the decorating, and it is worth these Christmas scrapbooking ideas in a page.

Another Christmas tradition that may not even be realized is the way Christmas trimmings are taken out every year. Many families keep their Christmas decorations in their basement, attic, or garage, and pulling them out every year is sort of something of a tradition in and of itself. Surely an event like this would make great subject matter for Christmas scrapbooking ideas.

Christmas firsts are always pretty important. This is often where tradition gets formed. For example, every time there is a new addition to the family, it is the obvious choice to make a “Baby’s First Christmas” page. The same applies to a first Christmas in a new place, another one of many Christmas scrapbooking ideas.

Of course, opening presents and decorating a Christmas tree is something that most families will partake in on Christmas. The scrapper may need to completely rack his or her brain in order to get more original Christmas scrapbooking ideas. Therefore, one has to simply ask oneself: “What is it that our family does every year at Christmas time?” It can be something seemingly mundane, such as watching a movie after Christmas dinner. It could also be something very unique, like an oversized stocking that hangs by the fire. Every family has different traditions, and the more unusual, the more interesting the Christmas scrapbooking ideas are.