THANKSGIVING : TIME TO RECORD FAMILY MEMORIES

THANKSGIVING : TIME TO RECORD FAMILY MEMORIES

There is never a better time than NOW.  

If you can, record the interview.  

If interview is too intimidating a word, have instead a lovely chat.

Tell me about your childhood...

What is your earliest memory?

When did you start school?

Where did you go to school?

What  where your favorite subject(s)? Least favorite?

Teachers?

Did you like school?  

What games did you play?

When you were five, what did you want to do when you grew up?

Do you have any hobbies or interests that began in your childhood?

Tell me about your parents...

HOLIDAYS A PERFECT TIME TO COLLECT WHAT WILL BE FAMILY MEMORIES

It seems to me that the American Holidays are a down time for genealogy but an up time to collect what will become family memorabilia for future generations. 

These days photographing people and things and uploading them rather than printing out photos is the way to go, though I still like to print out a copy for my files.  I also like to ask questions and do interviews, though I wish so much that I had recorded them in the past so that I could hear my relative's voices again.

The other day I was watching an old movie from the 1970's.  I knew it was old because of the telephone being used. These days few people have land lines. Remember party lines?  (A shared line meant that someone in your close neighborhood could pick up and listen to your personal conversations.) There's a history of technology in films and today the use of a cell phone is incorporated in action as are the latest in computers and other technology.  So a film can easily become dated quickly.  I still remember my dad getting really excited by Jurassic Park (the first film) when he realized that some dinosaur DNA was in the faux can of shaving creme that went down the falls.  Now millions have taken DNA tests for themselves.

Why not ask your visiting relatives to tell you about their first telephone, or television, or computer, and keep that testimonial as a memory?  Ask your grandparents when their parents first had a phone, television, or computer and what kind it was.  Did they use it for local and long distance?  Remember before Unlimited Cell Phone Use that long distance could be expensive and some families reserved calls for wishing Merry Christmas to their far away relatives?

What television shows did various family members like?  Watch together?

How about favorite films?  Actors?

These days the availability of old shows and clips from old shows makes re-watching them possible. You might find that you don't like the humor, that it makes you wince.  That's the reaction I had when watching old shows - The Honeymooners, with the threats of wife beating, and The Three Stooges, with the violence of hitting Larry around his head. The violence as funny was not to me. But these were popular shows, so what does that say about American culture when they were popular?

There is a strong argument that computer animated games have stoked violence.

I also watched some old stand up comedy on YouTube because some of my family loved the Johnny Carson Show.; you're not going to find too many comedians who weren't sexist or insulting. Yet, people also seemed more willing to understand what joking was. Those times domestically were not as violent as life is today because school yard bullies existed and there were gangs and organized crime but terrorists and mass killings of innocent people who were just in the wrong place at the right time were rare in America.  

FAMILY TRADITIONS - WRITE ABOUT THEM - READ ALOUD - INCLUDE THEM IN YOUR FAMILY HISTORY BOOK

(Check out my past posts about Halloween and All Souls Day using the search feature embedded on the sidebar of this Google Blogger!)

Did your family have any special holiday celebrations or traditions that were ethnic or their very own special invention?

I find that writing about this subject can really bring a kind of "warm and fuzzy" feeling to a family history writing project, along with all the genealogy data that you're compiling.  You can even gather your family to have a little writing group and write as individuals together in the meeting on various events, read your writing to each other aloud, and include the writing in the MEMORIES part of your book.

For Halloween you might write about the first Halloween costume you ever wore.  Could you breath through the mask?  Did your mother sew it?  Did you walk wearing it in a parade?   Did your family celebrate this holiday in any special way?   Is Halloween a holiday that is spiritual, funny, or spooky for you?

All Souls Day;  Did you go to church?  Did you pray for a relative that passed?  How old were you when you understood what death was?  What was the first funeral you remember attending like?  How did it make you feel?

Thanksgiving:  The best and worst Thanksgivings you've experienced.  Favorite foods (be sure to credit the right cook!)  The furthest you've ever traveled to attend a Thanksgiving Dinner.

Christmas:  Your earliest memories of the holiday.  How old were you?  Pictures with Santa.
The year it didn't snow.

You get the idea.

As for me, I have some rich holiday memories such as:

That my aunt, in the days before you had to go through inspections at airports, actually took a cooked ham in a roaster pan on an airplane as her contribution to a meal in Florida.  Reportedly at some point the ham beneath her seat moved and had passengers scrambling.  (She proudly walked off the plane with the roaster pan before her.)

Being six years old and seeking my first body in a casket.  It wasn't creepy exactly.  The person appeared to be at peace - and waxy.

Wearing costumes that were made for me at dancing school for Halloween too - just with a simple mask.  My neighbor who made home made candy apples - just a few for the closest neighbor kids - and gave out candy bars to the rest.  Living in a suburb where one year several hundred kids came to the door.

The Christmas that my most treasured present was something small but yearned for that was in my stocking.  The Christmas my cousin swore that she saw Santa and the reindeer from the window view from the top bunk bed.  The Christmas a loved one died.

HAVE FUN!

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