Legacy project - holiday memories

This is a grand time for connecting with older relatives & friends.  Invite them over or out for a holiday celebration - at home or at a favorite restaurant.  Direct the conversation to favorite Christmas moments.   Break the ice by sharing some of your own - bring pictures, if you have any.  Help ease the older guests into talking about their own best Christmases past or favorite memories, family traditions.  If at all possible, without making it obvious, have a tape recorder getting it all down.

 

One year, Mom recorded her own family memories.  We know, from her own words spoken in her own dear voice, how much she loved "shiny bright" ornaments on a tree, how a tree without "shiny brights" was a mere pretender to a true tree!  

 
Word to the wise - it took A LOT of attempts & a bit of good luck before Mom was at all comfortable talking with a tape recorder getting it all down.  That surprises everyone who knows her - they expected she took to audio recording her memories without any angst.  HA!  Every time I hit record, she froze.  Couldn't remember a single special time.  It took secretly taping her in a conversation & playing it back for her to realize how special it was, to have those moments recounted in her own voice.  

Be advised - most of us, even the most naturally talkative, tend to freeze at the very thought of being recorded, including Christmas memories.  But what a wonderful legacy. when you do!