Memories will Last Decades in a Scrapbook
Most of us have shoe boxes or plastic bins filled with photos from the years of our lives. If we are lucky, we have managed to sort the boxes into various years or decades, and some order can be determined. Mixed in with the photos may be ticket stubs, greeting cards, and other memories that need organizing. Imagine leaving this legacy to your children. They would spend days sorting through the boxes trying to order the material, making sense of everything, but without success. Chances are there are photos of people they will not recognize, some events cannot be recalled, and questions about why certain items were saved and others were not. Maybe you have saved all of your graduation cards but none from birthdays or anniversaries. Maybe there are ticket stubs from concerts, but you did not save a wedding program. Your kids and grandkids will appreciate why you held on to certain things. A scrapbook helps them understand once you can no longer explain. Compiling one now can be a lot of fun and it organizes your memories before it is too late.
Kids and grandkids can even help. By creating a scrapbook, they can remember the event in years to come. Maybe last Christmas was the best ever for your six year old granddaughter. She can tell you the story, you can write them down in a scrapbook besides the family Christmas photos, and she can enjoy the experience as told in her own words.
You can also document the time before you had children and grandchildren. Start with the oldest pictures and each person. You can include stories surrounding everyone, or include a message directly from them if they are still in your life. Future generations will be thrilled with your efforts and their ability to enjoy the past. There may be stories you forget to share when you are alive, or these stories may not capture the interest of surly teenage grandchildren. However, a few decades fromnow they will be fascinated with the time and effort put into chronically their family history. You can create a scrapbook for each member of the family so they can share them and piece together their common history, or you can create identical scrapbooks with copied photos. Remember to include tickets, brochures or besides photos in the book. Different items such as notecards, swatches of fabric, important documents and family recipes balance the photos in the book and add to the story. Your relatives will truly appreciate your effort in documenting the family history.
