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Family Tree Gathering

06.03.2019 by season // 1 Comment

We finally have the doctrine, the temples, and the technology for families to accomplish this glorious work of salvation. I suggest one way this might be done. Families could hold a “Family Tree Gathering.” This should be a recurring effort. Everyone would bring existing family histories, stories, and photos, including cherished possessions of grandparents and parents. Our young people are excited to learn about the lives of family members—where they came from and how they lived. Many have had their hearts turned to the fathers. They love the stories and photos, and they have the technological expertise to scan and upload these stories and photos to Family Tree and connect source documents with ancestors to preserve these for all time. Of course, the main objective is to determine what ordinances still need to be done and make assignments for the essential temple work.”

Roots and Branches – April 2014
Elder Quentin L. Cook

I came across this conference talk recently and was giddy with excitement. Here is an apostle of the Lord, Elder Cook, “suggesting” we hold a recurring family tree gathering; A.K.A family party! I am always up for a fun family party and time with the people I love the most. So, I wanted to provide some resources and tips to make this simple, smooth, and easy to create in your own home with your family.

Questions to consider while planning:

  1. Do you want to gather with your immediate family or is there family near you (or coming for a visit) who would enjoy joining you?
  2. Do you want to mail, e-mail, or hand-out invitations? Even your kids will love receiving an invitation! (Check out the bottom of this post for a FREE printable invitation that you can use)
  3. Do you want it to be structured or more of an open house feel?
  4. Do you want to do food or no food?
  5. How can you display some of your photos and family heirlooms?
  6. How can you make this personal and meaningful to each of your family members?

Ideas for what to gather:

  1. Look through an old memory/keep sake box to find:
    Old year books
    Scrapbooks
    Childhood artwork/projects or papers from school years
    Wedding photos
    Baby books
    Missionary journals
    Pictures
    Letters/ cards             
  2. Gather heirlooms from your home or borrow some from family
  3. Find family recipes from parents/grandparents or cook a tradition meal from the country where your ancestors lived.
  4. Gather photos, family history books, videos, old journals, etc.
  5. Print off stories and photos from Family Search
  6. Collect any temple cards you might have to share
  7. Print and display a family fan chart so people can see what family history work has been done and what is left to do. Link for instructions-https://www.familysearch.org/blog/en/printing-fan-chart/

Putting it all together:

Once you have compiled your things, find a way to display them around the room. Have some little blank cards available for people to write down information about the heirlooms they brought.

Family possessions, family history books, and family tree print from Branches

You might consider making time for people to gather and share some of their own stories or read a story from your ancestors. You could watch family videos together or have them playing in the background while family visits, eats, and looks around. Or plan a favorite family game together.

Eating food and enjoying some home videos

A suggestion from my own experience doing a family tree gathering is to be careful not to plan too many things. Plan two activities tops. Maybe watch some family videos and have your kids do a skit of a family story, or have a short story sharing time and finish off with a favorite family game together. In my desire to fit in too many things I felt like there wasn’t as much time for people to visit and explore all the heirlooms and family books I had out. Plan some time to just let people sit and look at all the family memories and stories you have gathered. To sit in small groups and share these discoveries together or jump on the laptop and look through Family Search.  

The MOST important thing is to remember to enjoy yourself and let things happen as they happen. I promise that through your efforts to be involved in family history work the spirit will guide and direct this event to help each person feel connected, loved, and inspired. Just sit back and watch the miracles that come from family history work!

Tips for including young kids

  • Have them display a few important items in their life right now around the room
  • Have some prompts ready to help them share their own stories. For example: What is your favorite memory of grandma/grandpa’s house? What is your favorite family tradition? Tell us a time when you’ve learned an important lesson?
  • Share a family story with them beforehand that they can tell at the gathering
  • Create coloring pages of ancestors for them to color. Here is an example at Family Locket: https://familylocket.com/ancestor-coloring-page/
  • Help your children put together a short play about an ancestor’s story to perform
  • Family videos are always a hit with the littles!

Tips for including teens

  • Have your kids look through their old journals and find a memory to share
  • Assign them to look through Family Search, an old family book, or call a relative and bring a story they can share during the family gathering. Make it a little more exciting and have them think of a creative way to share like a drawing, poster, or simple PowerPoint presentation.
  • Cook the food together beforehand and talk about the ancestor who started the recipe
  • Tell stories around an outdoor fire pit while you roast marshmallows
  • Have a few laptops or tablets out for them to jump on and explore Family Search

Wrapping it up

When everything is done, think of a way to preserve the great stories and memories shared during the family tree gathering so your children can visit them again and again. I added the stories, pictures, and fan chart to a 3-ring binder. I included a few pictures of the event I took, including pictures of the family heirlooms (remember to label these!). I also wrote out the family recipes we used and typed out some stories my parents had shared from their childhood to include. You may want to consider recording some of the stories shared on your phone to help you type them up later.

I loved doing a family gathering with my family! I was so surprised to find my mom had all these fun German recipes her grandma made that we got to try.

German Kuchen recipe from my Great-grandma Ziegler

Watching old family videos brought back so many great memories from my childhood that we got to laugh about together. We got to hear about my father’s first spiritual experience as a child and read through my mom’s childhood report cards (apparently she was a talker 😊). We shared a story of my 3rd great-grandpa who was friends with Joseph Smith and helped save him from an angry mob (how cool is that!). I was even surprised to find one of my old dolls and childhood sticker book collection. My kids were fascinated by the stickers and all the cartoon characters popular when I was a kid. I am just so excited to do another one in a few months and keep up this tradition of GATHERING.

Looking at childhood sticker book

I would love to have you try your own Family Tree Gathering. Below we have a FREE printable invitation that you can use for your gathering. It is available as a full page printable or a double-sided 1/4 page printable. We would love to hear your successes and great ideas. Comment here on the blog or on our Instagram account @seasonforfamily to share your own Family Tree Gathering ideas!

Download – Full Page Invitation

Download – Double-Sided 1/4 Page Invitation


KAYLA BERRETT

IG: @kaylaberrett


Categories // Activities, Child, Family, Teen Tags // Elder Cook, family party, family tree gathering, free printable, free printable invitation, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints

Passing Down their Legacy of Faith

05.28.2019 by season // Leave a Comment

I read through a short biography of my great-great-great grandfather the other day. I read of his faith. His deep conviction of the gospel of Jesus Christ. His strength in the hardest of trials. I wished so deeply that I could have met him. I wondered if I could be a little bit like him. I wondered what he would have taught me if I had had the opportunity to sit on his knee as a child.

I thought of my grandfather, his great-grandson, who passed away a years ago. I used to sit on his knee. He taught me so much about the gospel on that soft, inviting little seat. He had such an amazing knowledge of, well, everything. But especially he loved to talk about the Savior and His teachings. He had an entire library full of books written by amazing men and women of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He taught me to delve deep into my understanding of the gospel.

My Grandpa and I

I think now about my dad. He would often let me stay up late to discuss some doctrinal aspect of the gospel. I never got sick of hearing him talk about this passion of his. That same love of our Savior had been passed down to him.

I have to admit that even with all the names I have found, temple work competed, talks on family history and so forth, I have hardly read a story from any of my ancestors. I have been so focused on getting the work done. Not to mention, this line of my family has had SO much work done already I never even bothered to look through it. It was already “done”. How wrong I have been.

Two things became clear from reading these stories of my great-great-great grandfather. One, these men and women who came before us are of a powerful importance in my life. This deep love for the Savior and His teachings was passed down from those before me and has become a part of me now. Our ancestors’ faith, their experiences, their perspectives, their love is very much a part of each of us. Even some of their faults and shortcomings are passed down. The second thing that became VERY clear to me was that it is my RESPONSIBILITY to continue to pass down this legacy of faith to my children. My children need to hear these stories. They need to learn from these men and women who have already helped shape them a little into who they are. These ancestors aren’t just names. They are my family.

With this said, I am excited to introduce a series starting up next week called, #seasonforfamilyactivities It will be a way for us to share ideas to fill some of those long summer days coming up with activities to do together as a family. These activities will be fun and help you discover and pass down your own family legacy so that our ancestors won’t be forgotten but that they can be celebrated with us and in us.

What are some ways you have been inspired by the stories of your ancestors?


KAYLA BERRETT

IG: @kaylaberrett


Categories // Activities, Stories Tags // activities, biography, celebrate, Family, Family History, geno, grandparents, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints

Family Search on the Sabbath

05.26.2019 by season // Leave a Comment

Gruppe Kinder sitzt vor einem Laptop Computer im Unterricht der Grundschule

This week’s idea for #familyhistoryonthesabbath was inspired by @roots2blossoms and @themommygenealogist ‘s Instagram posts from this last week! We have linked to their posts in the stories.

Sunday is a day where a lot of us like to limit and/or ban screen time (makes sense, right?!?). Something that I like to tell my kids is that they can have as much tech time as they want, ONLY if they do family history… Guess what?!? They ALWAYS take me up on it. @familysearch can be such a fun place for kids and I am always surprised by how much they learn.

Did you know that any child 8 years and older can have an account of their own?

Check out familysearch.org/discovery for some super fun games and activities that are fun for the whole family.

If they’ve been there, done that with the discovery activities, don’t stop there! Send them exploring! See if they can find a pioneer, an early settler, see if they can track how many countries their ancestors came from, have them find a story to share at family home evening, see if they can find any royalty in your family line. I am sure you can think of more ideas!

Are you going to let your kids have tech today? If you do, tell us how it goes in the comments below!

Remember, every week we will share a simple idea for bringing family history into your home on the Sabbath day. If you have ideas that you would like us to share, tag @seasonforfamily in your Instagram post and use the hashtag #familyhistoryonthesabbath

To help us not be on social media all Sunday, we will share your ideas on the following Saturday night or Sunday morning in our stories. They will then be available for viewing on Sunday.


CAROLYNN REYNOLDS

branchesart.com
IG: @branches.art


Categories // Child, Teen Tags // account, activities, Family History, family search, kids, sabbath, screen time, sunday, teens, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints

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