Keeping Childhood Memories

My sons decided to teach my daughters how to shoot.
Nobody warned the girls about how a rifle kicks back! Bruises and memories!

When my grown kids come home for the holidays, some of the most enjoyable times we have together are recounting their childhood memories. A re-telling of the night my boys slept in their treehouse and were visited by the hand of a boogey man wearing a black glove (a mischievous cousin) sets them all to laughing and reminiscing about their happy childhood together. I have often wished I could gather up all those delicious memories of their experiences as children to bring joy to them, and never be forgotten.

One idea is to have each of your children write briefly about a childhood memory and send/bring it home to Mom every Christmas. All these memories are stored in a Family Stories binder that can be added to every year, and brought out to read and remember. This is not as ambitious a project as scrapbooking, but the memories are ever so vivid and delightful! And it is amazing how differently each child sees the same event. Ask your children to focus on the positive memories, or things that were scary then, but funny now. (We all have our share of unpleasant memories, but the goal is family unity and love.) If they have a photo to match, that makes it even better, but it's not necessary. Just the mention of "all that for a bit of cheese" gets all my kids laughing, remembering my son Ammon's disruptive and persistent rummaging through the luggage in the back of our crowded van as we sped across the desert.

One thing is sure, remembering our family time together stirs up loving feelings, makes us grateful for our past, and bonds us all closer together.