Keepsake Book

I read my sister's blog about her heirlooms. So I thought I'd share my idea.

I'm a scrapaholic. My daughter and I get together as often as we can (which lately hasn't been possible much) and we stay up all hours of the night to scrapbook all our precious photographs as we laugh and enjoy the company. I have albums of grand kids, my kids when they were young, the month long vacation Jim and I took across the states, and just albums for all occasions and each one of them is put together with my love of scrap booking. Each page is decorated and journaled.


When my mom and dad both passed onto the blessed world of eternity there was the duty of going through all the things left behind. Some things were given to each of us in the prior years by them but there were things left to go through. As my sisters and I were going through my mom's jewelry we realized then that there were items we had no idea where she got them or when or who from. Then a year later when dad passed on we had to go through the entire house.

My sisters are older than me and they remember more of the history of things than I did.

I ended up bringing things home with me as both my sisters and brother did.

As time passed by I kept thinking of things that I have that I wanted to pass on to my children and grandchildren . Things passed down from my parents, things passed down from my mother in law and things that I've kept since my children were born.

I kept trying to think of a way to help my children remember what each and every one of these items meant, when they were acquired and how. Things like the Indian doll that I got when I was three years old. Things like the crocheted dress my sister made for my daughter when she was a baby. Things like the compact that my mother in law gave me to hold as something old when I got married. Many of these things are in a cedar chest that my parents gave me when I graduated from high school which is yet another thing to pass on. Other items are displayed around the house or in my jewelry box.

I wanted my children to know what all these things were when they have the chore of going through them after I pass on to the Heavenly world. I wanted them to have an easy time of it and not sit and wonder "why did mom keep this!" or "which one of us wore those shoes?".

SO, it finally came to me what to do......scrapbook of course! So I went through my house and took photos of all the things I could think of that I want them to know about. I then bought a small album with the inscribed words on the front that say " Forget me Not" which I thought was fitting.

Then placed a photo on each page and journaled under the photo telling the story of the item. It's not as decorated as my other albums but it does it's purpose.

Now they can just grab that album as they go through everything when that time comes and wa-la, the story is told.