For many, the holidays are the one time of year when they send written greetings to family and friends. Sometimes these are pre-printed cards and sometimes they include Christmas letters detailing the latest family news.
This year, instead of writing about the kids and school and the busy year, you might want to use the occasion to capture a bit of family history by describing a favorite holiday tradition, a treasured recipe, or even details of a special family collection. By writing about the events of the past, you are preserving these ethereal events that might otherwise be lost to your family’s history. Memories of holidays, trips, keepsakes, and events are hard to document. No record may exist of the five-day car trip from Minnesota to Arizona over the Christmas holidays but the memory may be precious to a family who started a new life with the new year in a new home.
Traditional holiday meals would not be complete without Bev’s pecan pie or Susan’s cranberry casserole. Sharing the recipes is another way to ensure that some traditions are preserved. Families may also celebrate in traditional ways that reflect their cultural heritage. Holiday traditions may include candlelight church services followed by a rollicking snowball fight. Santa Claus may appear as Father Christmas or Kris Kringle. Hanukkah is celebrated with the lighting of the eight candles of the Menorah. African-American families may recount the recent history of Kwanzaa, which celebrates their heritage and culture.
So get out a piece of paper and a pen and write about your favorite holiday experience, event, food, keepsake, tradition – whatever story you want to tell to the people who mean the most to you. You may find that you enjoy the writing experience and your family and friends will certainly treasure the memory that you have made permanent by committing it to paper.
The Colorado Genealogical Society website at www.cogensoc.us lists a variety of classes and speakers for genealogists of all ranges of experience.
~ Carol Cooke Darrow, CG, teaches free genealogy classes at College Hill Library, 3705 W. 112th Ave., Westminster, on the first Saturday of the month. Call 303-404-5555 Adult Desk to reserve a seat.