With Christmas fast approaching, I asked my wonderful hubby to please write a few lines about his childhood memories of Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. He thought for a few minutes about what stood out, both the good and the not-so-good, and he wrote half a page. As we talked, more details started flooding back. Pretty soon he had a full page of memories, ranging from putting up the tree to singing carols as his father played the piano.
Illustrating written memories
Next, my hubby browsed old 35mm slides from his childhood and chose seven to go along with his written memories. He found slides of his siblings next to the tree, one of himself in pjs and robe on Christmas Day, one of his father (Edgar James Wood) testing a Christmas toy, one of his mother (Marian McClure Wood) in holiday finery, and one of his grandfather (Brice Larimer McClure) chatting with a grandchild on Christmas.
As a holiday surprise, we're sending family members these images along with the page of memories. Even in a busy season, we found a couple of hours to assemble the project--and I'm sure recipients will find a few minutes to read the story and smile at the photos from decades in the past.
Of course we've been sharing these and other memories around the dinner table during this year's holiday celebrations. And making new memories for the future.
Bonus: "spot the heirloom"
Among the images scanned from old slides, my eye was drawn to the one at top. It shows the living room in hubby's childhood home in Cleveland, Ohio, festively decorated for Christmas exactly as he saw in his mind's eye.
Next to the piano keyboard, on the left edge of the image, the camera captured a special heirloom that has been passed down in the family: his mother's handmade ceramic sculpture of a zebra. I marked it with a red box in the image above.
My heart was touched by seeing my late mom-in-law's favorite little zebra on display in her living room. Some distant day, this little zebra and her other ceramics will be inherited by descendants, along with the stories and photos.
- This is my Genealogy Blog Party post for December 2021.
The scene looks wonderful! And I love the color of the room. Seeing the tree decorated that way really brings me back decades. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteWhat a fun idea to remember Christmases past and easy to do. "Bite-sized" is an excellent description.
ReplyDeleteThis is a great idea. Love that tree, too. Very similar to some photos I have from about the same period.
ReplyDeleteGreat idea and quite achievable for most people. thanks for sharing
ReplyDeleteWhat an absolutely fantastic idea for a personal, sentimental, inexpensive and wonderful gift that can also be passed down throught the generations!
ReplyDeleteA great bite-sized idea that could work for lots of other topics: summer vacation, school, sports, first job, etc.
ReplyDeleteThanks, everyone, for your nice comments. I'm going to take Lisa's suggestion and work on bite-sized projects for other topics, such as school and vacation memories.
ReplyDeleteI too have found treasured heirlooms in the background of photos. I find it a little frustrating to not have the perfect photo of the treasure. Isn't that funny? Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteWhat a lovely photo and post. The bite-sized project is an excellent idea. Adding it to my New Year's Genealogy Resolutions list. Have a great holiday!
ReplyDeleteWhat a great project - I might give that a try next year. And the tinsel on the tree brings back A LOT of memories for me.
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