Preserve Your Thanksgiving Memories With a Memory Scrapbook

I am a big preserver of memories. I feel like I want me future family to know me the way I wish I could know more about past generations. So many of them didn't bother recording much and many of the letters and photographs from our past have been thrown away. They had very little regard for how important they would be to me and my family.

To share what the family was like in 2007 with future generations, you can make a memory book based around Thanksgiving Day (or any other holiday for that matter)

On the day of the holiday, take photographs of each individual family member and shots with members together. Don't forget to include your pets. After dinner, have each person write a letter to future generations including a little bit about who they are, who they are related to, their likes and dislikes, things they are thankful for and wishes for their future family. If you have a video camera, film each person recording a Thanksgiving wish or two.

Don't just leave all these things collecting dust in a pile on your desk. Put them into a sleek memory book of your choice. You may want to choose a classy, leather book, or something a little more whimsical. Just make sure it matches your personality.

Purchase scrap paper with Thanksgiving designs and even create your own if you are the artistic type, or call on your computer to add graphics.

Start on the first page with a full menu from Thanksgiving dinner. Blow it up to cover most of the page and list each item in a fancy cursive writing. Call upon someone who knows calligraphy if you can. Add a picture of your decorated table with the beautiful the dinner on it.

Then start with individual pages of each family member. Include their photo, their letter, and something unique to them. For example, since I like to write, I could include a poem that I've written. For my husband, who plays the saxophone, I could include sheet music of his favorite song and a fancy sticker of a saxophone from the scrapbook aisle at my local craft store. Anything that suits that person would work perfectly.

After you dedicate a page to each person who attended your Thanksgiving dinner, include group shots and decorate the pages anyway you'd like. You can add more stickers, fancy paper, ribbon, rubber stamp designs, or glitter. And no one says you have to keep your photograph the shape it comes. You can use your computer to enhance it by adding a border, give Aunt Tilly bunny ears, or you can even use fancy scissors to add scallops or wavy lives around your picture. Or you may want to cut each person out individually, eliminating the background.

Your last page should provide directions to another place for more information. Either make a CD-Rom with more pictures on it and note it or add info to your website and list the link.

When your memory book is complete, pass it around to family, even those who didn't get to come so they can see the wonderful experience you had. Then preserve it in a safe place for future generations.