Coming to you early for the busy week ahead.

Are you hosting or visiting for the holiday festivities? Large gatherings or quiet social events? Now for the tough question. Any plans to share your family history findings or gather more information from family at the events? One friend of mine has talked about posting the family tree and just letting people look at it. The stories aren’t there but maybe some conversation starters.

Our gatherings are small. No real opportunity to share more stories at them. As I write that, a couple of thoughts cross my mind. Maybe it would be a good time to just ask how people feel about knowing their family history? What do they want to know if anything and how would they want to learn about it? It can be as short or as long as people want it to be and the baby and 3 dogs will let it be. That would be a logical step in our household.

Another idea that came to mind is a gift my sister-in-law gave my husband a few years ago for his birthday. We got a pencil bag in the mail filled with folded strips of paper, 65 I think. The activity was to pull out a paper and read what was on it. Each paper had a memory on it. For example, “ordering the awful, awful burger” or “releasing our turtle ‘Ichabod’ back to the Mississippi River.” When each paper was pulled and read, there was an opportunity for a story. My husband would tell us what the story was about, when it happened, etc. We did a few at a time when we got together. It was actually quite fun and filled with lots of laughter. I don’t recall if there were stories to be saved for when the grandkids were older, but it is possible. He was a rock-n’-roll musician in Reno.

You could do that the way my sister-in-law did it for us. I think you might even be able to give everyone a few cards to write a memory starter or 2 of their own, throw them into a fishbowl, a pull them out over the course of the event.  Or maybe it is questions they put on the cards. It could be fun.

The real issue here is how you can share your hard work or gather more information to continue your work on your family history. And do it in a fun, stress-free way. What are your ideas? Have you already done things in the past? And of course, doing it all while basting the turkey, mashing the potatoes, snatching bites of the meal along the way. (There was the time I put a piece of pumpkin pie topped with whipped cream on my sister’s chair….yes, just before she sat down. Who was more angry, Mom or my sister?)

Whatever you decide to do or not do with the family and your family history, make it a great holiday season. Make more memories to put in your future family history writing.

Heidi Geise, education@hqrl.com