“What if this is the year you start a new tradition that could knock some items off of that list while bringing your family closer together?”
Christmas is the most wonderful time of the year but for busy parents, it can also be the most hectic. When you have a to-do list as long as your arm, the holidays can be outright exhausting.
What if this is the year you start a new tradition that could knock some items off of that list while bringing your family closer together?
This holiday season you can save time and money, and share memories with your family, by creating keepsakes instead of filling stockings with only the latest trinkets from the store.
A keepsake is simply something that is given to be kept as a memento and evokes powerful feelings.
Sharing the story behind a beloved object that has been passed down through the family can build bonds across generations. It can be big or small, expensive or free; it’s anything that has a personal or emotional connection or story.
Perhaps you have a piece of jewelry handed down to you from a parent, or a recipe for grandma’s perfect pie; whatever the item, wrap it and give it to your loved one, along with a printed story behind the keepsake.
This encourages you to spend time together explaining the family connections and you’d be surprised how excited your kids will get when they hear that great grandpa was a fighter pilot or grandma used to be a ballerina.
If you don’t already have a keepsake that you can share with your loved ones, there has never been a better time to make one.
Photobooks with pictures and stories of your family throughout the past year are a wonderful way to capture memories and pass them down through generations. Your children can help you chose the photos for the book and submit them online.
Why not spend some time together making ornaments with your children’s handprints, drawings or photographs on them? They are fun to create and make terrific gifts.
This year put down your to-do list for a while and consider making memories and family connections with treasured keepsakes, new or old.
Stacie Gaetz loves to tell stories. She thoroughly enjoys her works as a freelance writer and co-owner of Sentiments Photobooks, but her real passion is for her daughter, 4, and son, 1.
