Time to Party!

 

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

We have been eating our “family history elephant” one bite at a time.  Now is the time to celebrate our hard work!

It is time to party! We celebrate the birthdays and special life events for those who are here on earth with us – now is the time to do the same for those who have passed to the other side of the veil!

Our celebrations can be simple or “all out”, depending on our situation, energy level and desire to plan and execute a celebration.  With our busy schedules, the decision may already be made for us!  Here are some ideas to get you started.

Simple

1.        During Family Home Evening or on a Sunday afternoon, mention which of your ancestors had a birthday or life event this past week or has one coming up in the next week or month.  Did you know that FamilySearch keeps a calendar for you?  Here is how to find it:

a.       Click on the Bell icon in the upper right corner of your FamilySearch program (by your profile button)

b.       Choose Ancestor Calendar in one of the notifications

c.       Click on the big blue bar “See My Calendar” – the upcoming events (birth, death, marriage) will come up on your calendar for the next few weeks.

2.       Tell a story or share some photos of your ancestor.  If you have met them, share with your family what you know about them and the life they lived.  Include some world events that happened or inventions that came to be when they were here on earth or that they may have been involved with during their life.

3.       If you know their favorite treat, make it for a Family Home Evening treat with your family and share what you know about your ancestor as you make it – or make it ahead of time and share stories as you eat it.

4.       Have a family prayer day for help with researching information and documents to add to your FamilySearch page on your ancestor.  Ask for help from the other side of the veil.  Share with your family what you already know before the prayer so you can be specific on what you need help with.

Creative

1.       Make a simple scrapbook using all the photos and memorabilia you have for them. If you have items that are not easily scrapbooked, take a photo and add it with the information regarding the item – such as medals, grandma’s aprons, etc.  You can embellish your scrapbook pages with hand-drawn pictures or scrapbooking materials - or not as you desire.  Include names of all the people in the photos as well as dates and places in the notations by the items.  This can be an on-going activity where you add more family members each week or month.

2.       Learn a skill that was a favorite of your relative, such as crocheting, wood working, whittling, cooking, painting, etc.  Share stories about your relative as you practice the skill.  What do you think it was like for them to do work this skill? What materials do you think they used? 

3.       Contact other family members and have them write out memories of the relatives and send them to you, via email, text or letter.  Collect these into a book, along with photos.  Make copies (you can do this at the Wave here in Heber or at the UPS Store), and distribute a copy to each family.

4.       This is an “old-fashioned” idea from many many years ago.  Start a round robin letter with memories about a family member and send it to the next family or person in your “robin”.  Have them add a story or memory and send it to the next family or person on the list. Continue this until all family members in your robin have contributed.  When the letter comes back to you, it will be filled with memories of your ancestor. Share them with your family, collect them in a book and make copies for all families involved.  This round robin idea used to be done with letters sent through the mail, but you can do it with emails or texts.  Just pint them out when ready to create the book.

5.       Have a Zoom party!  Each family invited to the Zoom party shares a story or photograph or memory of the ancestor or of several ancestors.  This could be done monthly or quarterly.

 Ambitious

1.        Create a skit of your ancestor’s life and have the family members act it out for Family Home Evening – or a family reunion.

2.       Create a “This Is Your Life” night.  This was a TV show many years ago.  A simple version for home could go as follows:

a.       Collect memories and stories about the person

b.       Have one person read them aloud to all others “in your audience” or show a slide show on Power Point

c.       The audience has to guess who the stories are about

This idea could be done with extended family members as well, using Zoom or a similar program.

These are just a few ideas to get your creative juices flowing.  Our ancestors are precious family members and the more we know about them and celebrate their lives, the more love we will feel for them, even if we never had the opportunity to meet them.  We will experience that wonderful meeting one day! 

Enjoy celebrating your ancestors!  We are here to help if you need……. Brother and Sister May