Ideas to make family history fun

We've been commanded to do it, but sometimes finding the time and motivation to do family history is hard. Michelle King introduces us to her family to share ideas that they've implemented that are valuable and move beyond databases and pedigrees.

Family History Ideas by Michelle King

• Year in ReviewThe first Family Home Evening of each New Year, our parents would sit us down to recount the past year as a family. We'd make up a simple page with 6 squares on each side, label the 12-months, then write down what had happened in our lives the past year. We referred to our journals (if we kept one) and our calendars and had some good laughs as well. Put all those pages together each year, and you have a family journal. If each person keeps his/her own in a book, it becomes a simplified personal journal that can later be used to help write a personal history.
• Family LettersMy husband's mother used to have each of their children submit a monthly family letter. This was pre-computer, so we'd type it, mail it forward (in order of age) to the next sibling, then take out our old letter and replace it with a new one each time it came around. Now, with computers, it would be easy just to submit a monthly family update and distribute it to all the siblings and parents. This is great when all family members live in different places.
• Family Memory BooksWe started this back in 1986, when my mother-in-law requested that each of their children submit important memorabilia from the past year (the deadline was always in December). She had us send pictures, report cards, kids' academic and sports awards, recital programs—you name it. Then she'd make this gigantic scrapbook—chronicling the past year for them and each of their children's families. With 4 children, this made for a pretty big book! (She'd keep the originals then make color copies for each family and distribute at a family party at their home around Valentines Day.) As the years went by—and I realized we couldn't make it out the door in an emergency with all of those volumes—we simplified the process for our children and their families (and they don't have to make submissions until they're married!). Each year, the kids turn in only two pages to me. The first is a 1-page timeline or bullet-point list of the major events in their family's life from the past year. The second is a collage of their family pictures for the past year. I make the copies for everyone, stick them in sheet protectors, then they add them to their own special "King Family Chronicles" notebook. If, at some point, they choose to remove their siblings' pages from the notebook, it's a simple family written and pictorial history—only 2 pages per year!
• Grandparent Videotaped InterviewsThis was one of the best things we've ever done…and it should be done while everyone is healthy and still has a great memory. We told both sets of our parents—and my grandma, in her 90's—that we wanted to interview them in sets and would hold 3 separate family parties when we recorded on videotape. We got all my husband's siblings and their children to create questions for his parents—asking anything and everything about their growing up years and how they met…to what's their favorite hymn. All the questions were sent to me, then I compiled them in a logical order and xeroxed a sheet for everyone. We gathered for a family party, then turned on the video camera. (When it came time to do the video interviews, whoever submitted a particular question got to ask it.) You don't have to be a professional videographer to pull this off…you just need a tripod, because taping lasts at least a half-hour. It was so fun to hear their life histories…and, now, it's documented so we can make a copy of each DVD for each family/person. We went through this process for each interview session. It is a real treasure to have their personalities, gestures, etc. on tape for generations to come, many who have never met them.
• Family Photo Books Most every year for Christmas, we receive a great gift from our married children who have families. They take many of their pictures from the past year and put turn them into a photo book they make on their computers. It's a wonderful gift—more family history!
• Family Cookbook This is a fun idea, where all the cooks in the family submit their recipes that are family favorites. My sister compiled ours…and I am so glad to have recipes for many of our traditional get-together foods. Some of my late Nana's classic recipes for bread, slush punch and homemade candies and cookies are those we'd like to keep in the family for generations to come.
• Blog Book I'm not a blogger, but my sister is. And she and her friends have just had blurb.com transform their online posts into beautiful hardbound books. This way, your blogs become your scrapbooks.