Family History - Collecting Stories

This holiday weekend is a good chance for people to get together with family members.  When the family is together as a group it is an excellent time to collect family history.  It's a great time to get people talking about their memories.  I know historians are concerned about the history of long dead ancestors, but there a family stories that aren't so old.  The stories of family members that are still living needs to be written down now while they can tell their own stories.  We all wish those that have died would have written down more for us, so we need to be getting things that have happened to the people that are living now for their children, grandchildren and great grandchildren, and beyond.

A great way to do that is to record their stories on video or audio and they can later be written up too.
My older siblings are getting up in age and I had a scare with my older sister a few months back and I realized there is still so much that I need to learn from her.  She is 15 years older than me and she remembers so many stories with my parents that I have never heard.  I have been trying to get my older siblings to start talking and telling me there memories.  When they get together in a group they start talking and one person remembers something and that jogs the memories of the others and before long they just start telling all kinds of stories.  If I don't record these stories while they are still here all those stories will be lost.

I have several older cousins and I really need to spend time recording their memories.  It is great how each family has different stories from their parents about special memories of our grandparents.

Holidays are a special family time so it makes for a great time to talk to people about their own special piece of your family history.  Someday you children and grandchildren will be saying Thank You.