the paper anniversary

where does the tradition of giving a paper gift for the first wedding anniversary originate from? I did a brief google search and nothing significant about the history popped up. anyone care to enlighten me?

for him, a moleskin journal (he has indicated that he wants to take a crack at journal writing); photographs, inspired by alphabet photography, taken of random things in our home to spell out ‘home’ (“establishing a home” has always been a great wish of his); and a piece of paper, issued by the government, with a new last name following my first. he was happy with his gifts, especially the name changing thing, I think. as for me, I received a ESV study bible, beautifully bound and weighing a tonne. a study bible is something I’ve wanted for and mentioned in passing; it surprised me that he had took note of it and appreciated the research he had conducted in choosing the right bible.

we also purchased this absolutely gorgeous leather journal that's made in italy (it's so soft I want to rub it against my face). the journal is our... marriage-log, meant to be written in only once a year—near the anniversary— to document every year of marriage: what we did, how far we’ve come and our new hopes and dreams etc. I thought it would be a nice way to see how we grow through the years. I am big on sentiments and traditions like this.

to celebrate, we had dinner at a french restaurant called le montmartre (as a tribute to our stay in montmartre, paris during our honeymoon). the food was dee-licious. daniel ordered a rack of lamb; I don’t like lamb but kept on nibbling on daniel's (I could have eaten the entire plate). I had the tiger shrimp, which were the size of my fists and were unbelievably succulent and tasty, drenched in buttery, garlicky goodness. yum. I would definitely go there again.

I am very happy (: