NEW FAMILY TRADITION

Tip # 31

After the turkey and after the presents, most Christmas days dwindle down to

the men on the sofa watching the game and the women in the kitchen doing the dishes.

Why not create your own new family tradition and give the younger members something worth remembering as well as some information about their ancestors in a way that perhaps they can relate to?

Perhaps as a way to get the children of the family settled down so the parents can load the toys into the cars...

Take a box or book of some of your family photos, or better yet maybe a box AND a book, the book being without any photos in it as of yet.

Begin with photos including the children themselves and then begin introducing photos of their parents as adults and then later as children themselves. Progress with this and explain to the children just who these persons are and how they relate to them. Of course in a way that they will understand, each child being different.

Depending on the ages of the children, allow them to place those photos into the blank pages of the book you brought and have them repeat just who those people are. As each child adds to it, see who can remember the most people; don't expect them to remember names, but concentrate on...this is my great great grandma, etc.

Explain how you are building a family tree by allowing the children to draw a tree with branches only and maybe placing a star or something on the brances as you go through the photos.

As the years go by allow the children to explain to the younger ones what they did the year before if they can. Save the trees they draw for the following year. Maybe in this way you can give each child some knowledge of their heritage.

Of course you cannot be too detailed, just start with the basics and as they enjoy creating the book something may begin to create a memory for them and they may pass it down to their children later.