I don't normally write about personal things on this blog... But I've realized my work with new media has reached a new level on a personal level this holiday season. In an attempt to save money, I decided to put my efforts online to work. I figured, why not spend time working on a website for the holidays instead of spending the money it takes to create a holiday card and mail them out. So I used the tools I've collected on my site: Flickr, Weebly, Scrapblog and Google Docs and created a holiday website for my family. I've included a downloadable version of our holiday card, stories about each family member and a spot for people to leave messages in place of spending money on a holiday card. Total cost for the website: Free (if you don't count the fact that I have a pro account with Flickr)

There really are benefits to these tools beyond journalism!