How to Create a Family Legacy

What are you doing to make sure your family’s legacy lives on? Many of us have treasures, heirlooms, pictures, books, clothing, and memories from our loved ones that have gone on. While you may still have your grandparents or your mom and dad it is important to start creating a legacy with those people. If you’ve never thought about breathing new life into past memories and treasures now is the time to put all of these together for future generations.

Here are a few fun and exciting ways that you can create a legacy for your family!

Start a scrapbook or photo album.

Contact friends and family members to collect all the photos you can. You will be surprised the photos you will find of your loved ones from birthday parties, picnics, vacations, and graduations. These photos are something your family members will cherish over the years, especially if they were unable to attend these great events.

Create a history book of family members and accomplishments.

Your family members have accomplished more things than you know! If they are still living, be sure to ask them questions about work accomplishments, how many jobs they’ve had, how they met their significant other and their favorite food. Some of these questions may seem silly but when you look back at this book ten years from now it will mean more than you know.

Write a book or a journal.

If at all possible have your family members write down a page or two about their life. Reading their words and seeing their handwriting is a great way for future generations to get a look at their family’s history.

Create home movies.

Now with smartphones in our hands or our pockets, it is easier than ever to record home movies. Start by recording footage of your parents or grandparents doing daily chores, telling a joke, answering family questions or just them saying they love you.

Put together a family recipe book.

Your favorite dishes from Thanksgiving or Christmas are something that may have been passed down from generation to generation, and in order to preserve them, it is important that you create a recipe book. Contact aunts, uncles, cousins, and great-grandparents and have them share their favorite recipe that they have collected over their lifetime. Putting their name on the page will also allow future generations to know where this recipe originated from.

Take care of yourself and share your knowledge.

The best way to create a lasting legacy is to take care of yourself so that you are around those you love for as long as possible. The knowledge your posses from years of hard work, prayers, joy, tears, and life itself is something that needs to be shared with those you hold so dear.

Creating a legacy for your family to share and be proud of is something you will never regret.