5 Questions for Thanksgiving

Would you like some conversation starters for your Thanksgiving feast? After the chewing slows and before desert begins, try asking one of these 5 questions for Thanksgiving. 

1. What is your earliest memory of Thanksgiving? Who was there? Where was it? What did you eat? 
2. Which Thanksgiving was your favorite or most memorable and why?
3. Did you ever celebrate Thanksgiving in an unusual way? How? 
4. Who did the cooking for Thanksgiving when you were a kid? 
5. Did you have any special traditions; a place you went or an activity you did?

These questions are great for learning about your family history or about your friends' lives. Telling stories brings everyone closer together. 

Happy Thanksgiving!

Jennifer Shoer aka Scrappy Gen

Reconnecting Relatives, LLC

Let's Remember!

Recording it for Posterity

Video for Family History – Part 1

Have you thought about creating family videos? 

If you are over the age of ten, you have probably already made at least one video of yourself or your friends. Most of you have phones that record video. Let me tell you about my grandfather and his videos.

My Grandfather, known to his grandchildren as Bubba, recorded thousands of feet of video tape during his life. He recorded his children, his siblings, his nieces and nephews and of course his grandchildren. It is possible for me to view in video most big events from my childhood right through and including my wedding. Bubba taped that too.

If you listen to the later movies after Bubba bought a video camera with sound, you can hear his chuckle, or his quiet prompts for you to do something for the camera. I loved his chuckle. If we ever complained about being taped (I remember not loving it when I was a teenager.), he would remind us that we were “recording it for posterity.” At the time I didn’t know exactly what posterity was, but Bubba said it, which meant it was important.

Posterity means all future generations. How cool that Bubba recorded our lives as they unfolded for our children and our children’s children and their children. He was our family historian, creating an amazing record of the lives of his family members.

Bubba recorded his movies on film. Digital didn’t exist yet. His first sound camera was immense. Now, video cameras fit in your pocket. 

At the holidays this year, whip out your phone and try recording your family members. Ask them questions about what they are doing. If they have a special skill, ask them to perform it. Ask them how they celebrated the holidays when they were younger. If they complain, tell them you are recording it for posterity. Your children’s children will thank you.

Jennifer Shoer aka Scrappy Gen

Reconnecting Relatives, LLC

Let's Remember!

Go See Your Grandma

When was the last time you thought about your grandma? Thanks to the Meet My Grandma initiative, #MeetMyGrandma, from FamilySearch.org, lots of people are talking about their grandmas. This initiative from the LDS church is to encourage their younger generation to capture stories from their older family members. An emotional connection (grandma!) and great social media marketing have made it popular and I hope it catches on with young and old alike, including with those of us who are not part of the LDS church.

Before it’s too late, go see your grandma. Talk with her. Ask her about her life. Not sure what to ask? Try this list from the Lineagekeeper’s Genealogy Blog; Fifty Questions for Family History Interviews. Don’t exhaust her and try to ask all of them. Let her talk as long as she wants and follow her lead. 

Their suggestion to tell one story you love about your grandma is simple and easy to accomplish. I was lucky to know two grandmothers and two great grandmothers and I have stories to tell, but you know what I wish? I wish I had asked them more questions while they were here on Earth. 

What are you waiting for? Go. Go now. Call her. Email her. Get in the car or on a plane and go see her. Talk with her and don't forget to listen. 

Jennifer Shoer aka Scrappy Gen

Reconnecting Relatives, LLC

Let's Remember!

p.s. you can see my grandmothers here, here, here, here, here and here. 

A Bit of Nostalgia on St. Patrick's Day

hanging near my front door

I am feeling a wee bit nostalgic, not for the Emerald Isle, but for the family, my ancestors and my relatives, who came from there. Some of them were Irish and some self identified as English. They came from Northern Ireland and Ireland. I can feel them, behind me, floating, somewhere off to the right and somewhere off to the left and some unreachable. 

My grampa, Bubba, initiated the spark of this ability (or self invented perception) of being able to feel close to my Irish ancestors. He instilled in me the importance of family and keeping close. Wearing green and celebrating St. Patrick's day was first and foremost about family and, yes, it included the eating of corned beef, an American tradition. Bubba was proud of being 100% Irish and, although he teased my sister and me about being stubborn Germans like our Grandma, on St. Patrick's day I felt 100% Irish too. I wore my freckles and orange (Why do people call it red?) highlights with pride. 

Family is family, dead or alive. This may be peculiar to genealogists or family historians, but because of the research I have done into the lives of family members I have never met, I feel like I know them, like I have sat with them and had tea and cookies at the kitchen table. Yup, feeling nostalgic, tears prickling. I miss them all, the ones with whom I have walked in this life and the ones I continue to know in my dreams and the ones I will someday meet again. 

until we meet again, may G-d hold you in the palm of Her hand

Jennifer Shoer aka Scrappy Gen

Reconnecting Relatives, LLC

Let's Remember!

A Year on a Scrapbook Page

Would you like a simple scrapbook page idea for documenting a year or a piece of your family history? Inspired by an older kit from Ali Edwards, I gathered four photos of my sister and me from 1980 and created this page about the family story of our nickname:

Let's Remember! The Story of Our Nickname

I used Adobe Photoshop Elementsto put my version together. Every Day Life, the Ali Edward's kit was paper and I used it for my dear son:

Every Day Life, kit by Ali Edwards

There were so many pictures of my cutie from 2009 that I decided to add an extra page to coordinate with the first.

If you like the simple layout with space for up to nine photos, you can download my blank Photoshop file. It's free!

The key to putting a year on a page is keep it simple and easy. Don't try to find and organize every single photo for the year, just choose a few portraying a person, a place, a relationship or....the possibilities are endless. 

If you create a Year on a Scrapbook Page, please send me a link and I will add it for others to visit. 

Happy Scrapping!
Let's Remember!
Scrappy Gen

Traveling Back in Time - Hancock, Michigan - Part I

Hello friends. How was your summer? Did you do any genealogy traveling? We spent most of our summer on the road, in the air and on the water. I have thousands of pictures, documents, memories and notes to process. How about you?

In August we traveled to my father-in-law's birthplace, Hancock, Michigan. We were a small group, but it included three generations of my husband's family. That's his Dad in the middle. He just turned 91 years young. 

We took this picture right before we had dinner at Gemignani's Italian Restaurant. The restaurant has been a landmark in Hancock for many years, but more importantly it is housed in the same building where my father-in-law was born and where his family ran a kosher butcher shop. 

We traveled to Michigan, but it was more of a journey, a journey into our family's past and into my father-in-law's memories. It was a profound gift to have been part of it and I will forever be grateful.

Let's Remember!
Scrappy Gen

A Little Bit of Self Indulgence

Are you wondering where the genealogy went? Please permit and forgive this period of self indulgence. My daughter is still recovering from pancreatitis. Scrapbooking about her, about her strength, has been therapy for me. It's been one of the things that has kept me going...well, that and coffee. Lots of coffee! 

This is a flashback layout. I went through a year of digital pictures, picked my favorites and put them all together. 2000 was the first year I took digital photos. The quality isn't great, but the subject is precious to me.

Have you cared for someone who is ill? How did you get through it? Do you have any special strategies that helped?

Happy Tuesday!

Scrappy Gen

Let's Remember!