Personal History Prompt Jar

~What could you see from your childhood bedroom window?

~What did you do, as a child, that got you in big trouble?

~Do you remember a favorite nursery rhyme?

~Have you ever gone fishing?

These are just a few of the personal history prompts that we’ve folded up mysteriously and sealed into a class jar. Someone you love–grandma, grampa, mom, dad–then, chooses one question each day to trigger a slew of childhood memories. It doesn’t matter so much if they write them down in a formal journal or a simple spiral notebook, as long as they start putting it on paper…for the rest of us to enjoy.

Probably the number one reason people hesitate to begin a journal or personal history in the first place, is because they have no idea where to start. So what better gift to give them than a box or bag or–in our case–a cleaned candle jar–of daily prompts with intriguing questions that will actually be fun to write about. If they answer only one question per day–in six months they will have quite an impressive history. And who knows? That history may just be their Christmas present to you–next year!

Instructions:

Click on the link below to make your own copy of the prompts. Print them on white or colored paper–or both. Cut them into strips. Fold them and store them in a bottle or box. Tie a ribbon around it–and there you have it. A family heirloom in the making. Oh, and adding a pretty pen and notebook or journal is a nice touch too.

 

 

Click the following link:

Personal History Prompts

Homemade Holidays

Here’s the list…

Don’t be afraid. It’s not a nasty old “to do” list. Well, wait…maybe it is. But not the nasty part. It’s the fun kind. The sitting-in-front-of-a-good-movie-with-a-project-on-my-lap-kind. These are some of the things I’m taking on for Christmas. A few are actually in the works and some are still just on paper. And I admit, a couple will likely never see the light of day. But I’m gonna make a valiant attempt. Because I think, homemade stuff is just…better.

When I was a kid, every few years my mom would say, “Let’s make presents for each other this Christmas.” At the time, I’m sure I thought, “Not a chance,” so the projects would never even get started. Ultimately, we’d end up buying something for each other at Woolworth’s, a few days after the school break. It wasn’t until I was a bit older that I realized that those words were mom’s attempt to rein us back in from all the craziness that holiday commercials can suck a kid into. That, and to keep us from spending every penny we had when we had so few. Sadly, we didn’t cooperate too well with her good intentions–if I remember right.

It’s different at our house now.

“Handmade,” to me is such a sweet word–beautiful even. My children have given me so many gifts over the years.  Surprisingly, most of the home crafted ones are still around. Probably, because the gifts made by the hands we love, are sheltered, and guarded and kept safely treasured—held carefully close–just like the sweet things that created them.