For many families, summertime means family reunions.  Here is a quick tip for capturing family memories beyond photographs when you are gathered together.  With very little upfront effort you can keep family stories and traditions alive for years to come.

When our family met up for a family reunion several years ago I knew I wanted to create a photo book from the weekend that included both photos and stories.  Here are 4 steps you can take to easily document a little slice of family history at your next family reunion:

1.  A few weeks before your reunion, contact the reunion organizer for a list of participants.

2.  Create a chart with two columns: Name and Question.  I used Excel and grouped the names by family but you could also list them alphabetically.  The questions I decided to ask:

*  Big kids:  What is your favorite ______ family memory? (insert name of family you are gathering with)

*  Little kids: What do you want to be when you grow up? (I figured even if they were too young to have favorite stories this question would at least give them a voice in the book)

3.  Attach chart to a clipboard and on the first night of the reunion, start asking your questions and filling in the document.  Lesson learned: make spaces really big or be sure to have extra paper because some of the stories may get long!

4.  After the reunion, type up the answers and incorporate in book.  I included the quotes opposite the individual family pictures we took during the weekend.

Not only did my question provide interesting content for the photo book (Christmas gifts for all!), but it also sparked some great storytelling moments as the older relatives shared previously unheard stories with the younger generations.  Probably my favorite story was told by my cousin, Mitch, about my grandmother.   I had never heard this story before and it was so her: 

” I remember dinner at John Knox with Anita.  She served a Jello-like substance and some rather questionable deviled eggs.  After dinner the kids were running up and down a ramp in the hallway.  Anita kept telling them to “roll kids, roll!”  They didn’t do it, so she got down on her knees, laid down and log-rolled down that ramp – necklace and sweater flying every which way.  After recovering from their shock, the kids then proceeded to “roll kids, roll!”

Although my grandmother was no longer with us that weekend, her spirit was shining bright through stories like these that were shared among her descendents.  I was honored to be able to write them down and pass them along for everyone to remember and enjoy our family history.