Merry Christmas!
I'm writing more than the average calendar user in my family is interested in knowing. I'm writing to the people who want to make family calendars, or any calendar for a group of people and not have to retype all the data every year.
So if you are in a hurry to get to the 2015 calendar, scroll down.
This year the calendar came together for me fairly easy. I've completely given up on Calendar Creator. I loved it for years but the Davis Family is too extensive to do a double check of all data each time something like a font color is changed. To solve the many problems I was having with Calendar Creator, I turned to WinCalendar at http://www.wincalendar.com/. I used it for the first time in 2012 while making the 2013 calendar. I downloaded it and installed it into Excel. I was surprised to find that it installed into Word too. That tells me that it literally didn't install into either of them. It accessible to both of them.
The year before last, I typed the names and dates into each cell of the calendar that WinCalendar makes. The next time I copied and pasted the previous info into the next calendar. This year I learned how to create and access a data list and use that to generate the calendar. You can only import this kind of data if you are using WinCalendar Pro. So I bought it. I've been making these calendars since the 80's and know that I will be using this version for several years before I have to purchase an upgrade.
The hardest part for me was understanding that WinCalendar needs to read the date input in formula form. Once I figured that out, choosing the correct formula was easy. To make creating the data list easier I used the correct formula in the first cell. I copied and pasted it into the next 75 cells. Since I had already typed all the correct dates in field, all I had to do was create a column next to it, click into the formula and modify the month and day. I left the year at 2015 for all of them since that was the year the calendar was being made for. Then I deleted the column that I had typed in without a formula so I wouldn't be confused by it. Next year, I will add the new babies and the new spouses at
the bottom of the data. It will take a few minutes, that's all!
Once the data shows up in the calendar and I assure myself that it is all correct, I start adding the extra stuff. Because the Davis Family Calendar has the offspring of 4 siblings all born in the early 1900's, I use four colors to designate these families. At this point I quickly create a short family tree of the basic 4 siblings and their parents and highlight them in the same colors I use on the calendar. This is the key people refer to when they don't recognize a name on the calendar. It only takes one page while the tree for the whole family takes about eight or nine. I also make sure at this time that the sub family trees are updated on Google Docs. I use Google Docs http://www.google.com/docs to keep these documents safe and to make them accessible to each family calendar blog. I make sure that each name on the calendar is highlighted with their color. I keep holidays at a minimum and do not highlight them. WinCalendar doesn't lose the leap year babies, they show up on March first.
After all the data is secure I began scouring the Facebook pages of the relatives and save copies of the pictures I want to use in the calendar. I use the same format such as starting them with 2015 so they will be in consecutive order when I want to insert them. Since I make 51 Davis Family Calendars at home on my printer, the pictures are getting smaller and smaller. After entering the pictures I go back and experiment with formatting. I'm fond of shadows and small things that will make a photo pop.
Then I spend a lot of time looking for sayings and bits of wisdom that strike me. I try to find twice as many as I think I need because by the time I enter them, I frequently find that what made me laugh last night might be inappropriate this morning. I insert a shape. Inside the shape I insert text. Then I copy and paste this shape with that text into every spot I know I want a saying. Then I go to each one and type in the saying. I found this is much quicker than inserting a new shape and formatting it for each saying. Once I have all the sayings in place, I play around with the formatting again. I really want people to feel the calendar is theirs and about them. It's not about me and my opinions, so after I think it all looks pretty, I read the sayings again and often find that I've left out one or two words.
At last I print out one copy and sit down and read over it. I ask another person if one is available to look at it. If they are grumpy they might pick on something just for the heck of it so I have to process if their input is worth paying attention to. It's usually worth it though because they are the ones who will notice that the name of the month is missing.
Usually I start printing them out about now. I've gotten better feedback about using the 3 hole punch than I did for using staples.
I saved the calendar as a .pdf file, then uploaded it to Google Drive, and shared it. When I got to the share, there was a button to create a link. I clicked that button and then went back to blogger and pasted the link here.
2015 Davis Family Calendar
There are 2 blank pages that I have been unable to edit out of the Davis Calendar this year so if you are printing it, you'll need 14 sheets of paper.
Sincerely, Carmen Davis-Stevens
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