How can some things be so meaningful and important to us, yet carving out the time to do them seems nearly impossible? Cleaning our your closets is one thing, but I’m talking about the kinds of projects that put a lump in your throat. How do these make the To Do List?
Here’s a confession. I am behind several years in making photo albums for our family. When the kids were little, I used to organize photos and make photo books seamlessly, but now? Maybe writing this article will inspire me to put those family memories together, again, as this is just one of several projects that I believe we will never regret prioritizing.
Making family photo albums or photo books.
If there is a fire in our home, the family photo albums are what I will grab first. Of course, a prudent photographer today will also make sure that her digital photos are backed up in the cloud, or on a hard drive. However, I still have many old school-style albums from college and beyond with printed photographs. We also have a collection of Shutterfly photo books that I made when the children were younger, and our kids love flipping through these books.
However, the sheer number of photographs since the advent of the iPhone has made this project more daunting. Clicking through thousands of photos (our Mac automatically downloads photos from my husband’s iPhone, too), trying to decipher duplicates, deleting blurry selfies of my children, wanting to edit and brighten each photo, scrolling through event after event of endless pictures, etc. Why did I take so many pictures? Sound familiar?
Nevertheless, with a little discipline, let’s try to regularly delete the uglies (and duplicates) and have a goal to get photo books made regularly. Services such as Shutterfly and Snapfish will automatically lay out photos in a book with autofill, saving valuable time. I also usually save my photo books as drafts and wait for 50% off coupons before purchasing. Let’s see how we do.
Making a family recipe book.
Both my mother and mother in-law have taken the time to produce family recipe books, and I couldn’t tell you how much we use them. From simple pancake batter to Thanksgiving stuffing to the World’s Best Chocolate Chip cookies. Perhaps this gift is best timed when children are headed out on their own. However, you could also put recipes together for your extended family as a holiday gift to all. This project could be as simple as printing a .pdf or Word document and putting it into a binder, or using an online printing or publishing tool, such as Blurb.com, Shutterfly.com, or createmycookbook.com.
Recording the stories of your elderly relatives.
Family traditions help kids make sense of life, and they are important to a child’s well being. The stories, traditions, and customs that get passed down through the generations anchor us to our family members and help us feel that we belong. In the spirit of The Greatest Generation by Tom Brokaw, I don’t think you would ever regret sitting down with your elderly relatives to record some of their family stories. What was life like as a child? What do you remember about your parents? What was your experience during the Great Depression? What happened when World War II broke out? Where were you? Tell me about your wedding day. We did this with my grandfather years ago using cassette tapes. However, now all we have to do is press record on our phones, saving videos of grandparents, great grandparents, and great aunts and uncles, for years and generations to come.
Who is with me on prioritizing one or more of these projects?
