Now that the holidays are closing in again - I hope some of you think about preserving a bit of the past for the other family members.
Memories are with us - and no one else can know what you experienced in life unless you document it.
One year G and I went through EVERY picture we could get our hands on (borrowed from parents too). We categorized them and put them on the computer. We then made DVD's for all the nieces and nephews and siblings of all those pictures for a gift one year. They were thrilled.
My mother kept journals. She used to tell me stories about when she was young and about her family who I never got to know. So I told her once to start writing those stories down - because I would never remember all the details. I bought her a blank book and she started writing. I have 15 journals - written both sides of pages that she wrote before she died.
They got to be more diaries after a while. She wrote up until a couple weeks before she passed. I still haven't been able to read them all (too sad) and she passed in 2001!
BUT I have them and they are her handwriting and her words and thoughts.
The same goes with family recipes. Do you or your loved ones have lot of recipes that are family favorites? Holiday specialties? WRITE THEM DOWN!!
Make index cards or put together a small cookbook for family members. Have everyone contribute their favorites.
What a wonderful Christmas gift that would be.
I have many of my Mom's, my sister (who has passed), and my grandma's recipes. I made up a little recipe book for the nieces one year for Christmas. I used a small 4 x 5 photo album with plastic protectors for the recipes. They can add to it for their kids.
Those of us who blog, are kind of leaving a bit of ourselves out their for the world. I guess we can look at it as our journals. Our thoughts, memories, recipes, joys and heartaches.
I still think it is only right that we ALL leave some personal things for the rest of the family now and in the future.
I know many young people don't have a care at all about that stuff - BUT SOMEDAY they will and we will all be gone. Leave them your legacy.
NOW is the time to get busy on these kind of projects. Pictures, memories, family history, recipes, your craftwork, or whatever it is - pass it on.
Once you and the folks older than you are gone - so is all the information - forever!!!!!!
If you don't know stuff - ASK QUESTIONS NOW!!!
DOCUMENT IT!
Life is such an individual journey, different for each of us. Someday other generations will learn from us - much as WE have learned from days gone by.
Another great idea for holiday gifts - pass on heirlooms to those who will appreciate and keep for years to come. We all have things we have received - but when we leave this earth - what will happen to them? Gift them now to others who can enjoy them for years to come.
Just a few ideas to work on and get ready for the upcoming holidays.
Passing on the 'past' is the best gift we can give the future.
I loved this post. My sister took all our home movies beginning from the 1950s to mid-70s and had them put on dvds. She gave one each to my brother, parents and me. I love watching them -- get teary-eyed (who knows why, I'm not sad). My son thinks we all looked funny but he likes watching them too. I also have all of my favorite family recipes in a file box. Things from my mom, both grandmothers, my sister-in-law, sister, and brother-in-law. They are all very special to me. I also have a file box of my husband's mom's recipes. She had passed before I even met my husband but her memories are still with us. One of my grandmothers sewed each of her granddaughters and great-granddaughters a teddy bear made out of her own clothes. We also have old furniture from many long gone family members. Its all a reminder of where we come from and gives us a sense of peace.
ReplyDeleteWONDERFUL!!!!! I love hearing this Mary. It is just so important to keep a bit of the past. Who knows why we get tears - all I need is to see a commercial, hear a song, hear a phrase - BOOM - tears!
DeleteI think that is a good thing. It keeps our emotions real!
Make sure you pass those wonderful memories and recipes down to the younger ones too!
Love the teddy bear idea!!
I have daddies ties - going to make something.
Have a great weekend!
Going through mom's recipe was hard but so wonderful, I plan to write these recipes in books for Christmas.
ReplyDeleteYES!!!!!! It is hard to do - especially hen it is so fresh in your heart. So happy to hear that you are going to make recipe books for gifts!
DeleteYou might add some pictures or quotes she used to say as well!
Love it.
have a good one.
We took old film tapes of my husbands'mom and dad and him and converted them to DVDs so my FIL could watch them. We made a copy for my husband's uncle too. Hubby's mom died when he was a kid so it was great for my kids to get to see her. It was a lot of work and expensive but so worth it. We have slowly been borrowing photo albums from family members and scanning all the old picture in. I love sitting with my dad and having him tell me stories about who everyone is.
ReplyDeleteIt is lovely, isn't it? We had a lot of negatives and no pictures and we bought a device that turned them into real pictures on the computer. It was pricey too - but well worth it.
DeleteI love that you get to take little journeys with your dad into the past.
What a neat world we live in!
My 2 cents worth would be to remind people to look at old photos and write on the back the people in the photo and the approximate date. I've been taking my late mother in law's boxes of photos to her sister's house and having her tell me who is in the photo. Would have been so much easier if my MIL would have done it years ago. My MIL's favorite saying was "I never will forget...." well, unfortunately older people do forget and it's so hard to recreate!
ReplyDeleteABSOLUTELY!!! WONDERFUL ADVICE.
DeleteI have a ton of pictures that we have no clue about. They weren't marked and we didn't get them till after my parents had passed. It's a shame not to know, as the pictures are really cool. We have a folder made of 'unknowns'.
Thank you for the advice.
Wise words.
I have my grandmother's recipe box filled with recipe cards in her own handwriting. It is a treasure to me.
ReplyDeleteHow lovely. Maybe you could Xerox them and pass them on to others as well.
DeletePass on the treasure!
You are welcome. Thanks
ReplyDeleteI've been meaning to gather up and comment on the old pictures. Our eldest daughter has been after me to do this, as she's finding out that there is a lot she doesn't know or never heard about regarding the family's past.
ReplyDeleteKris I hope you do it - it for no other reason than her asking.
DeleteThat is her history - who she is - and why she is the way she is,
It would be such a wonderful gift to her.
This is so true. Mom wrote her memories down and dad too. Thank goodness but we have so many pictures of people we have no idea who they are. But now to ask her something only confuses her. She has no idea anymore and only talks about things that she 'thinks' happened. She will be 94 next week.
ReplyDeleteGod bless her. At that age she can remember what she wants! LOL
DeleteMom had trouble at the of her life - she was 91. I really never thought to ask Daddy things - just heard what he wanted to tell. He passed way too early in my opinion, and I wasn't into learning about the past then.
Make sure those wonderful memories and writings are passed on - even if just copies.
Bless our elders!