Decorating with Family History for the Holidays.

 My daughter Rachel and I had a great time making a fun family history tree a couple of years ago.  We've enjoyed this tree so much in the years since.  I hope you'll allow me: proud Mom here. She created this video to give you some ideas for your own family history decorating.  Hopefully it will help you inspire your family with their heritage at this time of year.

Five Family Photos To Take This Year

Happy Thanksgiving

Dia De Los Muertos

Last weekend, at a local event center Thanksgiving Point, my family and I got to attend a Dia De Los Muertos Event.  I'm not a big fan of Halloween--it just really isn't my thing, and I've always wished I lived in an area that celebrated Dia de los Muertos because that seemed a little more up my alley.  I love how it is a celebration of your ancestors and a chance to remember and honor them.  So we decided to go check this celebration out.  It was fun.  The decorations were beautiful with bright colors and Papel Picado flags representing the wind and the fragility of life. 

I love how happy this celebration is.  I love how it is a celebration of those who have passed on, not sad like a funeral, not scary like halloween, just fun--like a party. 

Waiting for the presentations.

There was great food and great signage everywhere to help people understand the significance of each part of the traditions. 

I loved the altars.  Families build altars to celebrate the life of someone who has passed on in their family.  It is a happy event to invite their loved one to return and enjoy some of the food, music, etc that they enjoyed during life.  It is also a great way to keep alive their memory and teach the younger generations about those who have passed on.  Altars can be built at home or in the cemetery and they are filled with offerings such as photographs, bread, flowers, toys and other things the person liked.  They typically have four elements to them: earth, wind, fire and water. Earth is usually represented with soil, stones, or pottery and wind is represented with the papel picado tissue flags (which I find interesting because in Hebrew, the word for wind is also the word for spirit). Fire is usually represented with candles that symbolize the soul of the loved one and help them find their way to return. Water is usually found on the altar to help quench the thirst of the loved one after they make the journey to visit.  Any family can build an altar for Dia de los Muertos as a fun way to teach the children in their family about their ancestors. 

I loved that they had a community altar where participants could leave remembrances of their ancestors.  And the marigolds (traditional flowers) were gorgeous and everywhere. 

All throughout the weekend there were performances, kids up on stage, etc.  We saw an awesome group that recreated Aztec dancing. They were fascinating. 

This would be a spectacular celebration to pass down your heritage with your family.  Especially if you come from a culture that celebrates Dia de los Muertos, but even if you don't.  There were lots of children's activities, face painting, sugar skull decorating, paper flag cutting, etc.  It is a great time to remember your ancestors, have fun with the children in your family and get together and celebrate the lives of those who came before you.  Enjoy. 

Fun Printables and Resources For Youth and Family History

I found some fun resources online to assist with getting children and teens interested in family history. These free downloads include a "Family History Detective" badge to use in coordination with a fun printable graphic that incorporates the twenty questions from the "Do You Know" study that came out of Emory University in 2009.  These printables can be assembled into a fun file folder project that children will enjoy putting together, learning from, and sharing at family gatherings.

Sugardoodle.net is a fabulous website for the LDS (Mormon) community and she shares lots of ideas for youth and family history including Family Home Evening ideas, descendancy research, and indexing tips.

Lastly, I received an email from Jana Greenhalgh about her new blog called The Genealogy Kids.   She's been doing lots of fun things with her kids including a big list of family history activities, tree tips, and research rules.

Our Family Heritage Christmas Tree

Take a look at this video that my daughter put together of us decorating our Heritage Christmas tree. This is such a wonderful way to remember and honor your ancestors during the holiday season.  Rachel shows you step-by-step how to make the various ornaments and then pull your tree together.  She even finished it off with an heirloom tree skirt.  And best of all--she wanted it in her room this year!  Score.  Hopefully those ancestors are encircling her with all that love and hope that I want for her.

My Pioneer Ancestor Activity Book

We're so excited to show off some details about our new books.  Today we are going to focus on the "My Pioneer Ancestor" Activity Book.

First I have to give a big thank you to my sister Amy Slade (who just had a baby!) for her help with this book.  Also great thanks to Erin Roudabush, Michelle Phillips and Christine Fazulyanov for their assistance in making this book happen.

You can take a look at the entire Table of Contents in our preview on the Zap The Grandma Gap website. 

With the “My Pioneer Ancestor Activity Book” you can:

 ·Map out the pioneer route of your ancestors
· Decide what you would pack for a journey across the plains
· Learn how to find direction by the sun
· Compare your day to the day in the life of your ancestor
· Try classic pioneer recipes
· Write a Pony Express letter to a pioneer ancestor
· Play a game about the risks along the trail
· Contrast pioneer schools and modern schools

Look at some of these pages: 

This book will arrive in time for Christmas gift giving if you order now. Take advantage of the pre-release sale, 20% off all books at zapthegrandmagap.com, until November 30, 2014. Excerpts from all of the books can be viewed on the website at zapthegrandmagap.com/brandnewbooks. Other great online and print resources can be found at zapthegrandmagap.com
to help families connect to each other by connecting to their past.

This post crossposted to thechartchick.blogspot.com. I don't usually crosspost, but we are so excited about these new books!

Now That You Might Have Some Free Time...

That was kind of a joke, actually.  However, with most schools back in session all across the US (if not now, very soon), many of us parents and grandparents tend to sigh a big sigh and think, "Now I can finally get back to my personal projects."  Just me?  I thought there might be a few others out there who are feeling the same as I am these days.  So, naturally, I hit up my trusty Pinterest account for some excellent go-to ideas that some folks might have a moment to tackle.  I am particularly fond of this one, which I happen to think would make a fabulous Christmas gift for a baby or toddler.  If you start now, you could probably have an over-the-top amazing version ready and wrapped before Halloween.  Hallelujah, anyone?

This adorable idea comes from YouCanMakeThis.com and I have to say, I really love it.  The link will take you to the page where you can purchase the pattern to make yourself, if you choose.  However, a handy-dandy Google Search rendered an amazing amount of similar projects that had my intergenerational-linking-heart going pitter-patter!  You can see some amazing examples here, here, and here.  Or, just do a search for family picture quiet book and go from there.

I actually did something like this for my own children many a moon ago and seeing all of these great versions above got me searching through my own closets.  I had a moment of happy reminiscing as I flipped through these old books that my children toted to church and used so often.  As you can see by the pictures below, the apples on our family tree have long since been lost and the book was well loved.  When it comes time for me to be a grandma, I will be remaking new versions of these books and I will definitely be utilizing some of the fun ideas above, not to mention revisiting the originals shown below.

Well worn and well loved by my children.

We had apples that attached to the tree but I couldn't find them.

Something else that I did when my children were young was to pick up little dollar store flip-book photo albums and I just rotated out family pictures as I printed them.  Such a little thing but such a big impact for my children who loved seeing pictures of themselves, mom and dad, grandparents, aunts, uncles and so on.  It was such an easy thing to update and replicate with three little ones.  Little picture books can be very involved or very simple and the effect is the same--young children love seeing the people who love them.

This idea would make a really lovely gift or a fantastic surprise to tuck away in a diaper bag (sort of an ace in the pocket for a particularly rough moment).  More importantly though, it will show a young child or grandchild that he or she is part of something bigger.  Starting early, the security that comes from knowing that there are many people who love us and are invested in us has the power to set our personal "self-talk" in positive mode from the beginning.  That in an of itself is a pretty potent cure for future bumps in the road of life.  So, if you are looking for a way to plant the Family Tree Seed early in a loved one's life, I can't imagine a better starting point than baby's first family scrapbook.

Decorating Boredom Buster

Yes, you read that correctly. It is entirely possible to give your children a boredom busting activity this summer that you will actually want to decorate the walls with later on. And what I mean by that is there will be nary a piece of glitter in sight. Save that stuff for your fridge and keepsake boxes. This idea will demand a prime display spot in your entryway or sitting room.

This idea comes from Brigitte. While the article is in German, I think we can all get the idea of it just based on the pictures. Family pictures printed onto canvas, placed into embroidery hoops, and then accented with colorful embroidery stitches. Tweak this one to use family history pictures and  you could create some beautiful new masterpieces. How cool is that? As you can see, they are simple cross-stitches and because your children will not have to follow a pattern, their imaginations can run a little wild. How great would this look in your house? Or what about as gift ideas for grandparents far away? I can just see the buttons busting from pride over the fact that a grandchild embroidered something for them. The fact that it is also a lovely decoration is just an added bonus.

The next time you hear, “I’m bored,” try busting out this activity and have some fun. It’s short enough to keep your child’s attention span but interesting enough to engage him or her into learning a new skill. Perhaps it will even start your child onto a new hobby path, too. Winning all around with this one.

Another even easier summer project--Family History Tablecloth

I've been keeping the kids quite busy this summer with family history projects.  They have been trying out activities that might work in your family and some of them have turned out really great.  This one was particularly easy and really useful--our family history tablecloth. 

It has given us lots to talk about when we have dinner together.  You could do all sorts of twists on this.  I have a collection of letters from my grandfather-in-law to my grandmother-in-law that I'm going to swap out in this tablecloth later.  The family dinner table is such a center to the home.  I find myself looking at it all day long.  What would work for a project like this in your home?  Let me know or send me a picture.  I can't wait to see how yours turns out. 

Subscribe to our YouTube channel at http://www.youtube.com/janethovorka and you'll know when we have the next video done.  We're cooking up all sorts of good ideas.  Can't wait to show you.

Magnetic Family Tree Puzzle--An Easy Project To Do Together

My daughter and I have been working on some fun family history projects together.  Hopefully you already saw the 4th of July decorating we did together.  We've been working on some other YouTube videos to give you some activities that you can do with your children too. 

Take a look at how easy it is.  Send me a picture if you try it ok?