Here’s a fun end-of-year family activity: Make a list of 100 family memories from 2012. It doesn’t matter where you create the list — use a notepad app on your smartphone, a legal pad, or sticky notes (one for each memory!). Or, start a poster board that family members can write on over the next few days when they think of a memory from this year.
We started our first list back in 2008 and have one for every year since. I wish we had started sooner, as my memory is getting so muddy that I can’t remember when anything happened! The lists include small events and large ones, happy memories and sad ones. Together, they create a great family mini history for the year and are fun to put together.
I have lofty goals for what will eventually happen with these lists. A beautiful photo book with the list and pictures that go with each memory. A slide show commemorating the year. So far, neither of these ideas have come to fruition, but I do wistfully hope that I’ll live to be an old granny with some extra time on my hands. And I’ll take out the crispy yellow legal sheet from ’09 and create some fun family memory book from it.
It’s always easy to come up with the first 30 or so memories — somebody graduated, somebody scored a goal, somebody turned 16 and got their driver’s license. But the fun really starts when you have to start digging for numbers 75-100. That’s when I pull out my calendar to cheat a bit. And we come up with some very non-momentous (often funny) memories to add to our list.
Let me know if you try it and tell me how it goes!
Have fun remembering your family’s year!
Related articles
- How to Make a Memory Book (answers.com)
- New Year’s Eve projects for a fun and memorable time at home with the kids (vancouversun.com)
Family Dinner
High, Lows, & Buffaloes
