Celebrating Christmas 2016 — Memory Albums

Of the many insights into Christmas celebrations that I could share with my QQ friends this year, let me just choose this one.

Christmas is a time for family, of course. As grandparents get older, there are good reasons to think about connecting with grandchildren in ways that they might remember us. This is a universal concern in families that cuts across all cultures. I am lucky to know about my grandparents, too, and it gives me much joy so many years after they have departed this life.

We will travel to the USA this Christmas to visit the oldest of our three daughters, who, as chance would have it, is also the mother of three daughters. It will be a special time.

Many years ago, this daughter provided her mother with three “memory books,” one for each of her daughters, to be completed with some details and photos of life when their grandmother was young. The books have sat, unused, for some years. This year, my wife determined that it was now time to complete these books, since we weren’t getting any younger and we seem to have less energy each year for taking on big projects.

Although these books were really a project for the Grandmother, and she has hand-written her personal history into the books, I have also gotten involved. Locating photos, getting them printed in appropriate sizes, and pasting them into the album were determined to be a “man’s job.” So, I am rather proud of the finished project. [Photo here of my wife, the Grandmother today, when she was about one year old.]

It was, indeed, a family project. Of course, there are details in this book about me, the Grandfather. I may still write up a longer story of my life sometime but time is running out now. We fly to the USA to be with the family in a few days. [Photo here was of the first time I took this girl home to meet my family. We were both only twenty years old at the time.]

I’ve included, here, just a few photos of what we put into these memory books so that you will get an idea of how we try to keep the memories alive from generation to generation. This is one small part of how we are celebrating Christmas this year. [Photo of our three daughters, maybe all teenagers (19/16/13) at this time. At least 30 years ago!!]

Published: 2016/12/24