[h4ch1]

I do something similar with my wife; at the start of every year we take around 50 sheets of paper and bind them into a little notebook. The binding cloth we use is usually a combination of clothes that tore, fell into abject disrepair the previous year. She then finds little things (ex: matchbox from a restaurant we visited and loved) and decorates it.

Throughout the year we keep writing in it, things we learnt, discords we had and how we resolved them, recipes I experimented with and we loved, random thoughts; basically anything and everything. And that little diary becomes an embodiment of that year.

I would also like to point out the manual labor and writing into it and not using an obsidian++-AI-auto-categorizer-3000 is simply because it feels like it's worth something, it's a nice little routine we have at the start of every year, and it's really fun reading these from 2-3 years back. Also the kids will have some really interesting reading a few years down the line.

I imagine a future where this becomes a family tradition that transcends time, knowledge from different generations, living different lives all nicely recorded in these codices. Something about this whole thing feels really beautiful to me.

[vogelke]

Great example of a commonplace book. Jillian Hess has written extensively about this -- her books are well-researched and organized.

[h4ch1]

Oh I had no idea it was formalised to such a degree, we just thought we were doing an extreme form of scrapbooking haha.

Thanks for the resource!

[threetonesun]

I do something similar with a journal. I bought a little Instax printer recently so I can still use my phone as a camera but print out the pictures and stick them in it.

I was thinking the other day I need to go back to a physical recipe book too. I don't cook that many different things that I need to reference it for, but there was a charm in my old one of remembering the best recipes were the ones covered in spilled ingredients and filled with marginalia.

[eleveriven]

The value isn't just in the recorded content, it's in the ritual

[klondike_klive]

that is beautiful. and inspirational. although I know that I don't have anywhere near enough energy to carry through on this kind of thing!

[eks391]

It only takes a little bit of energy once a day (or per week if you haven't realized yet how eventful your life actually is). The highest energy first day making it is a fun date with your spouse, or parent child time if you are separated.

[h4ch1]

@parent don't get too worried about not writing in it religiously and having a schedule. That removes all the joy about doing it in the first place.

For example our 2026 notebook has only one page filled in yet where I wrote a recipe for a chocolate cake I made on the fly and was worried I'd forget the measurements.

There are some days when I am bored and I pick it up and backfill it as well.

[marknutter]

This is an incredibly cool idea. I'm gonna talk to my wife about doing this with my girls. Thanks for sharing!

[h4ch1]

Great to hear :) I hope it brings y'all much joy through the years!