Calendar 2026 - A Sneak Peek

As the end of the year rolls around, and the new year is in sight ... it's time to think about the annual calendar. It's a bit of a two for one, as we need pictures for the end of year slideshow as well. Some upload to dropbox, others share a Google album. Some pictures come via text, others are collected from social media shares. Collected, organized into themes, making sure each family is represented in each monthly collage ... add one to each of the birthday ages and anniversary celebrations. Place the order in time for Christmas delivery. 

Then ... preserve the calendar collages on the blog. A sneak peek for anyone who happens to check the blog before the Christmas Eve party (where the calendars are distributed).  No big surprises ... the usual themes. Snowy pictures in January, red/pink/Love for February, Easter is in April ... lots of costumes for Halloween/October. Birthday pictures sprinkled in. Like last year, a little "family cheat sheet" just in case anyone can't quite remember names of cousins and other new additions (only two this year, two January babies).  Check out the family collages HERE. 

While this is a calendar for 2026 ... it's really a reflection on 2025.

Remembering the past year while planning for the future.

 January 

February

March

April

May

June

July

August

September

October

November

December

Note to self ... don't fill the whole page with the image, to bleed off the edge, pull back a bit leaving a white border. The image is slightly smaller but then the coil binding doesn't cut into pictures, and the hanging hole won't be in anyone's head ... oops, remember that for next year! Sorry top row!

Calendar by MixBook.

Calendar Pages & Slideshow

The annual Westra calendar ... it's for 2025, but all the pictures are from 2024, so this post will be more of a 2024 recap. The calendar was handed out at the annual Christmas Eve party (which will get its own blog post). Here are the pages that will be hanging in the Westra Sibling homes, and that of Grandma and Grandpa Westra.  What events will be recorded on these calendars in the upcoming year? 

The family collages are full size in the Christmas Newsletter 2024 post ...

January

February

March

April

May

June

July

August

September

October

November

December

Many of the December pictures are actually from 2023 ...

As the 2024 calendar was created before Christmas and missed out on these pictures.

... and finally, a little "cheat sheet" with all the names and family groupings!

... the "cheat sheet" featured here on the blog is a little redacted. The one on the calendar has birthdays and anniversaries, which are also included within the calendar itself. 2024 was a busy year, with several NEW additions, through marriage (there were FIVE weddings) and babies (FOUR babies ... and two more close to coming!)  Lots of graduations. Halloween was the most photographed holiday. Many of these same pictures/themes were featured in the annual Westra Slide Show as well, a double feature this year (Westra 2024 and Westra Animals!)

What will 2025 bring?

Westra Calendar ~ Sneak Peek

The annual Westra calendar ... while it is for 2024, all the pictures are from 2023 (with a few holiday holdovers from 2022), so on the blog, this is more of a 2023 recap, and this is where it will be placed. The calendars themselves will (hopefully) be proudly displayed the various Westra homes ...

A collage of each family ... these will be included on the "annual newsletter" post also. 

Calendar pages are generally grouped into a "theme" for the month  ... bundled up/cold for January, pink/love for February ... the Jensen "Mother's Day Tea" dress up SHOULD go in May, but matched a little better with the other dress-up/costumes in October.  The eclipse happened in October 2023, but was placed in April 2024, as that's when the next one is up (and I didn't see the picture of Jaiden in eclipse glasses until after the collage was complete and uploaded ... I'm sure there are other pictures that would have fit perfectly in other sections that I missed too. Hopefully they make it into the slideshow compilation correctly). Events ... birthdays, weddings, holidays were hopefully slipped into the correct monthly collage. Also, tried to make sure every family was featured in each month.

Here's to making memories ... and capturing them on camera in 2024!

January

February

March

April

May

June

July

August

September

October

November

December

Photos with the folks ...

2022 Slideshow & Calendar Pages

Every year, there is a call for photos ... these pictures are organized and added to the annual Westra calendar and slideshow. Both items are presented at the Christmas Eve party, and they are both showcased here. In previous years, the production of the calendar has changed hands a few times. Alicia has been creating it for a few years now (Grayson handled several years, and Sandy is the one who started it, with a single calendar for the folks and physical pictures adhered to a paper calendar). With the house/move, Jen took over (which makes sense, as the calendar and slideshow often have similar organization into holidays, topics, etc).

Here's the slideshow ...

https://youtu.be/Ib804Ifs8x8

(all the slideshows are also saved in the family Dropbox)

Just over 13 minutes, This year's soundtrack features "Gonna Be Good" by Bloom and the Bliss, "Moments to Memories" by Adeline Hill, "Stars in the Sky" by Kid Cudi (Sonic Sountrack) and "These Are The Best Days" by PinkZebra. Beyond the birthdays, holidays, school stuff, this was a big HOUSE year, with major moves and other renovations and remodels.

While these calendar pages are for the 2023 calendar, they reflect 2022.

For January - photos featuring SNOW and COLD were the primary focus. Also events that happened (family gatherings, Jen's bonk) and January is the main basketball season ...

For February ... anything love, pink or Valentines made the cut. While Callahan isn't the only February birthday, his was the only one with a picture of the event. 

March ... while some of these did actually happen in March, most were just random additions for the month. There's an attempt to get things chronological, but what's the point (point pictures)?

April means Easter! Add some dress-up, spring blossoms and other activities to fill out the month.

May means Mother's Day ... and Graduations (some were early June, but ...). Derek is one of the May birthdays, and April Showers bring May Flowers. Wordle just filled in. 

June ... all pictures from the annual Father's Day. 

Last one on Old English Road. 

July ... some seasonal stuff with the parade floats and fireworks. New baby, Anniversary ... photo fill ins and house progress. 

August means back to school ... lots of school photos.

Photo fill in ... try to make sure every family is represented on every page.

September ... lovely leaves and other fall photos. A couple new additions to the work force. Family photo fill in for the rest, hopefully somewhat in season. 

October ... Happy Halloween. Lots of fun dress up and pumpkin patch pictures. 

Blessings, Baptisms, Birthdays, Engagement and new early addition

... and moving day!

December ... the calendar and slideshow were already created, so most of these are 2021 pictures ... (although there are two that are 2022). This was the last Christmas Eve in the Havenmoor House. Most of the pictures from the party made it into the ChristmasEve2021 post, but check it out for additional details about that day. 

The slideshow and calendar pages ... it's a quick look back at the year!

Thanks for the memories!