Wednesday, November 15, 2006

Works-for-Me-Wednesday: Legacy Tree

This week's Works-for-Me-Wednesday is themed. We are all suppose to share a Christmas idea or tip to help us get ready for the upcoming holiday season.

I love Christmas trees--especially trees decorated in a theme. Each year we usually put up and decorate three large trees and then numerous smaller ones.

My favorite tree is our Legacy Tree. We live away from all of our extended family, most of which we don't see more than once a year, if that. So to help our kids know who their aunts and uncles, great-grandparents and cousins are I came up with the idea of a Legacy Tree.

First, I bought some really great ornaments that you can slip pictures into. When I started this they were hard to find and expensive, now they are everywhere and cheap.

Then I color copied pictures of our relatives and stuck them in the frames. I also put in the ornament frames some special family mementos like a page out of my great, great aunt's handwritten cookbook or a playing card because my family loves to play euchre at the holidays. I then decorate the entire tree with all the picture frame ornaments.

The kids love to look at all the pictures and to have us tell stories about their extended family. Then, when we do get to see our family, the kids already feel like they know them a little. It's also been a great way to remember family members who have died over the years and to instill our family legacy in them.

And that works for me. For more great Christmas ideas and tips, visit Shannon at Rocks in My Dryer.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

I love this idea! My family is so big on family history- this would be great for us.

It's nice to see another mom-blogger from PA. I'm glad I stumbled across your blog.

Anonymous said...

What a great idea!

Anonymous said...

Beautiful idea, how sweet!

Anonymous said...

What a lovely idea. A special way to have all your family together, even when you are apart.

Thanks for sharing!

Anonymous said...

What a great idea! I'm sure it's nice for your whole family to be able to see pictures of those that they love....what a special way to make the holidays extra warm!

Thanks for sharing this!

Blessings!
Tracy

GiBee said...

This is a really great idea! Love it!

Anonymous said...

This is a wonderful idea. I now live at least one plane ride away from any of my realatives, it saddens me to know that I will have to teach my children about our relatives because they may only see them once a year. This is a wonderful way to bring everyone home for the holidays if only in pictures.

Rae said...

Aww, such a lovely idea. Thanks for the idea! =)

Lady Why said...

That is the most wonderful idea! What a blessing it must be to your children and to your extended family! I can't imagine anything so special to them than knowing you are making such a beautiful effort to make sure your children know their heritage. Bravo!