Tag Archives: Family

Gift Idea #8 – Family Directory

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My family has had a directory for many years now. My mom was in charge of keeping it up to date until her eye sight got too bad, then my aunt took over. About a year ago the task was passed on to me. If your family doesn’t have an official directory it would be a great gift to put all the contact information for your family in one spot.

There are lots of ways to handle this. My mom and aunt used a word processor and periodically printed out copies to share. This works but it can be hard to keep the formatting consistent. I think a spread sheet might work better. When I took over the job I decided to transfer all the information to Microsoft Outlook and use the tools under contacts to manage all the information. The family knows to let me know if there are changes. If someone needs an up to date list for a wedding or such I can give them the latest information. Once a year in January, I email out the family directory in a pdf format and as an exported data file from Outlook. This way it isn’t too hard to keep things organized and accurate.

A printed out in a half sheet booklet form would also be a great way to share it with family. If you really wanted to get fancy it would be fun to collect photos from each family or person to include in the directory. I’m sure there are ways to put together and manage a family directory that I haven’t though of yet, If you have a suggestion let me know and I’ll include it here. A directory is a great way to help keep extended family in touch with each other. Isn’t that what family is all about? Making and keeping those bonds and connections strong.

I found this page on eHow for making a family directory that might be helpful:

How to Make a Family Directory

 

Gift Idea #7 – Children’s Story Book

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If you have followed my blog you know how excited I am about the illustrated children’s story book we are working on about my great-great-grandmother, Mary Taylor. Even though we won’t have this project finished for Christmas it would make a great gift. (Our deadline is actually for my mom’s 90th birthday in March.) With the Mary book I try to imagine it being used as a bed time story for Mary’s many descendants.

Do you have a family story that would lend itself to a story with illustrations? The pictures could be simple drawings or you could set up a photo shoot and have “actors” dress up to illustrate the story. The text doesn’t have to be complicated or long, the illustrations will help tell the story. Publishing could be as simple as printing it on your computer and/or taking it to your local copy center to make copies and have it bound. Of course a print on demand service such as Blurb or Lulu would also work. I think this project would be a perfect way to share one of your family stories with the next generation. Plus I think that even the older members of your family will take the time to read a short illustrated story when they would never take the time to read a long family history book.

Gift Idea #6 – Old Family Letters

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A project I would like to do in the future as a gift to my extended family has to do with the love letters my grandparents wrote to each other before they got married. I’d like to transcribe them but also scan them so that everyone could see what the originals looked like but also make it easier to read them.

This project could be easily shared on a cd or dvd. But it would also be nice in a book format with the image of the letter on one page and the transcription on the facing page. I think reading these old letters would help today’s generation have a whole new understanding of their great-grandparents.

You could do the same thing with letters from a family member while away at school or war or some other common theme for a series of correspondences.

Gift Idea #5 – Collection of Family Photos

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Most families have someone who is the keeper of the photos. Somehow that task has fallen to me. So last Christmas I gathered up the images I have. Scanned the ones that hadn’t been scanned. Then cleaned them up and label them consistently. I just did the ones connected with my mom’s parents from their childhood through their deaths. I cut DVD‘s for my mom’s siblings. For all of my cousins I sent a link to the SmugMug gallery that I set up with the same photos. That way they can get access to and download them as desired. This is a great project because it gives everyone access to those precious photos plus it distributes copies in more places to make sure they are preserved in case of disaster. An added bonus is that now they don’t have to come to me when they want a photo.

My advice on a project like this?

  • Pick a time frame. Don’t feel like you have to do it all. Make it something doable. You can always add to it later.
  • Pick a logical naming convention.
  • Make sure you scan them at 300 dpi or higher. If it is a really small photo I like to do 600 dpi or more so that it can be blown up larger than the original.
  • For long-term storage tiff is a better format than jpeg, because jpeg is a lossy compression and over time with opening and saving and opening and saving you lose data. But most people are more comfortable with jpegs. So you could scan as tiffs and then save a copy to jpeg for sharing with your family.
  • Find an easy way to distribute them among your family.

 

Gift Idea #4 – Personalized Planner

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Last year I made one of Blurb.com‘s weekly planners for a friend. It turned out really nice with a photo for each month and the front and back covers. This year they have even more options and with their BookSmart tool it is an afternoon or evening project. There are other planners out there that you can customize with photos but in my searching I didn’t find one that will let you add important dates.

Of course you can design your own planner from top to bottom in Adobe InDesign but that isn’t an afternoon project and BookSmart gives a surprising amount of control. Which ever route you take I think it would be fun to put together a family planner with historic photos and important dates from the past. Click on the image below to a Blurberati Blog post about their weekly planner.

Gift Idea #3 – Infographic

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When we think of doing a history of someone it usually feels like an overwhelming project that we just don’t have time for, especially when it comes to the holiday season. So I suggest taking on a bite sized project of an infographic about an ancestor or family member to give as a gift. Infographics are a way to communicate some of the more important information about something in a quick to understand way. You can put it into a frame or turn it into a tradition and pick a new person each year and give each person a binder or scrapbook to collect all the info-graphics in. I did a post about the infographic I did for my mom for Mother’s Day. It will help you get started. You will need to gather some information about the person and a few photos or other images. Clip art can also be helpful. Just have some fun and see how this project can come together.

Mother’s Day Project for Iris

I found this example of a family infographic today. It is pretty cool because it is customizable and comes in three colors schemes and five sizes. If you want a family infographic but don’t want to tackle the design yourself this is a great option.

“by the numbers” by Kristen Smith at minted.com

 

Gift Idea #1 – Have an Ancestor to Dinner

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This idea is inspired by the tradition of having a special birthday plate that is only used on birthdays by the person whose birthday it is. In my version wrap a special plate, either one you already have or one that you make or buy just for this purpose. Then you have a family dinner and set an extra place at the table with this plate. During the meal you talk about the ancestor or family member that is the special guest for dinner. Someone could be ready with stories about you special guest or family members could share memories about that person, depending on the situation. You could even invite someone to come in costume as the ancestor and play the role for the night.

These special dinners could be held monthly or on or near the birthday of the ancestor or whatever works for your family. You could place card by the special plate with the guest of honors name and a photo would be a nice touch. If you know a favorite food of the guest, it would be fun to serve that as part of the meal. This is just a starting point. The same idea would work for living members of your family and use it as a way to honor the talents and accomplishments of the guest of honor.

If you Google custom plates there are tons of options of plates you can buy with a family name or other images. There are many ways to decorate a glass or ceramic plate yourself. Below are a few links to give you some ideas and get you started on this project.

Glass Plate Craft

How to Use Porcelain Paint Pens

Decoupage Dinner Plate

Family Name Platter

Etched Glass Dinner Plate

Personalized Melamine Plate

50 gift ideas challenge

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I’ve decided to challenge myself to come up with 50 gift ideas that will help you to tell your family tales by Christmas. I’ve done some brainstorming and I think I can do it but it isn’t going to be easy. 50 is just such a nice number, especially in this my 50th year. So stay tuned over the next five weeks and see if any of my ideas give you some inspiration for gifts for your family and friends. I’ll post my first idea soon!

50 for 50 #42 – Washington Monument

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Washington Monument photo from takeatoothbrush.com

I didn’t have the time or the budget to travel to Washington D.C. this week to see the Washington Monument so I did it virtually. When I was three years old my family moved to Maryland. The closest congregation of our church was in Washington D.C. so each Sunday we made the drive in the morning for Sunday School and then stayed in the city until Sacrament Meeting in the afternoon. We would usually spend that time at one of the many attractions of Washington D.C.

Not long after we moved to the east coast we sent to the Washington Monument for our Sunday outing. We were enjoying the huge reflecting pond between the monument and the Lincoln Memorial. As children do, me and my sisters starting dragging sticks in the water. Seeing the potential for disaster in our Sunday clothes my parents told us to stop. My sisters listened but I didn’t and soon fell into the water. Because I didn’t know how to swim my dad had to jump in to get me out. We ended up having to drive back home so my dad could change our of his wet suit. I’m not sure if I actually remember this day but there are vague images that seem to be from that day.

I also remember climbing the stair to the top, but I’m pretty sure that we did that on another day. I wonder now if I really made it to the top at such a young age. Maybe I got a little help from my mom and dad. It was fun to take a trip down memory lane this week to celebrate my 50th year.

My virtual tour on the internet turned up some interesting things about the monument and the reflecting pool.

Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool Nearly Complete

Washington Monument Earthquake Update

 

 

50 for 50 #40 – Have a Party

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Party Table

When I made my idea list at the first of the year of things I thought would be fun to do to celebrate my 50th year, one of them was having a party. We have the tradition of having a farewell party for each of our puppies in training before the return to Guide Dogs for the Blind for the next stage of their training. Today it was Yakira’s turn to be the guest of honor. It isn’t anything fancy just a chance for our friends, neighbors and family to say good-by to the puppy. It is kind of a thank you for the little things they do in helping us raise successful guide dogs. For many people it is the first time they have seen the dog “out of jacket” and how they behave at home. At Apex’s party many people comment on how much like a regular dog he was at home.

voting for official portrait

We have a few treats and it is just a time to relax and enjoy each others company. I think the party helps me to mentally and emotionally prepare for the puppy to leave us. For Yakira’s party we had everyone vote for their favorite photo to be used for Yakira’s official portrait on our puppy portrait wall. We also had a card for everyone to sign. I’ll keep the card up somewhere until Yakira finds her next place in life, either as a breeder, a guide dog or in another career. Bill made cookies and caramel (these were a huge hit) and we had Scooby snacks and popcorn.

Yakira’s card

We also had a couple of Yakira’s good friends come to the party. Clifford (my sister’s career change dog) was here the party and Osaka (a fellow puppy in training) came to say good-by too. The four pups had lots of fun together. I have a celebration bandana that Yakira wore as the guest of honor (and so that visitors would have an easier time keeping track of who was who). With three black labs in the house it was quiet the party. The only treats for the dogs were bowls of ice cubes, given out at regular intervals.

Yakira, Clifford and Zodiac playing

It was a fun evening and both Yakira and Zodiac are exhausted. For that matter so are us humans. We have an early start tomorrow to get Yakira to the truck in the morning so I’ll wrap this up now.