It is possible to survive the holiday season, with sanity intact, by planning ahead and developing a sense of humor. Unexpected visits by relatives and cranky cousins can add to your stress levels, but try to offset the tension with a little family history. Don’t put your charts and notes away for the holidays ~ take them out and show them off!
- Pick out your family photo mysteries and put copies in a scrapbook with a blank facing page for comments. Leave a pen attached to the book and ask for each person to write something about the picture ~ such as the details they see or who it might be. Make sure they sign their name beside their remarks.
- Ask relatives to bring their own mystery photos in a similar scrapbook. Leave the originals at home.
- If you’re surrounded by relatives this year, purchase an oversize pedigree chart, fill it in (as much as possible) and pin it up in a prominent spot. It’ll be a conversation piece.
- Get the teenager in your house (or another interested family member) to tape record the stories of childhood escapades, memories of favorite foods and past holidays.
It’s a long holiday season, so keep the chart, scrapbook and camera handy for the next gathering. You’re sure to generate some genealogical cheer.
Don’t let heaps of unidentified, damaged, or disorganized family photos get you down. The Photo Detective can help!
In this month’s Photo Detective Newsletter, Maureen also gave the following tip for preserving your old photographs-
Preserving Your Photos Digitally
Bring new life to your old memories by converting them to digital format- it’s not only a space saver, but also ensures your precious moments are preserved for future generations!
Effortlessly preserve, organize and share your memories with ScanDigital – they do all the hard work in about one week!
About the Photo Detective
Maureen Taylor AKA the Photo Detective is a professional genealogist, author and journalist on the topic who’s written tons of books and magazine articles, as well as being a contributing editor at Family Tree Magazine and editorial board member of Legacy Magazine. She’s also been a featured expert on CNN, the Today Show and in Martha Stewart Living. Maureen can be contacted through her website Photo Detective or on Twitter at @PhotoDetective.
Tags: family history, scrapbook
Excellent post once again. I am looking forward for more updates=)
Oh, an excellent piece of text! I have no clue how you managed to write this post..it’d take me long hours. Well worth it though, I’d suspect. Have you considered selling ads on your website?