Thanksgiving stories

Sometimes we spend so much time worrying about, planning, shopping and making Thanksgiving Dinner, even as we give thanks for our many blessings, we miss really connecting with our families.  We assume that we know them; yet often we don’t know the most important things about them.   This is especially true of our older relatives, our family elders.  Somehow we get so caught up in what’s going on that we miss seeing them in their glory, in the richness of their life experience.

We don’t often gather together the whole family from many generations as we do at Thanksgiving and Christmas.   What better time to find out some of their stories.

After all, unless stories are passed on and memorialized in some way, they will be lost.  Boomers appreciate or are beginning to realize that when their parents go, so do their stories.   Anyone can benefit from knowing more about their older relatives.   Everyone can do with more understanding.  So as you relax with coffee after dinner today or while you cleaning up and doing the dishes, here are some questions to ask to find out more about them.

Where did you grow up?  What was your childhood like?  Tell me about your family growing up, what were your brothers and sisters, aunts and uncles like?  What were your parents like?  Tell us about Thanksgiving when you were young.  What was going on in the world?  Who were your favorite teachers?  What were you like at school?  Who were your friends?  Tell us about your first romance.  What do you remember about the Depression?  What do you remember about the Second World War?

Ask them about the jobs they had, their first, their best and their worst.  What did they learn from their life at work?  Was someone especially helpful as a mentor in their career?   If they had it to do over again would they do anything differently?

What about their loves?  How did they meet their spouse?  What was the attraction?  How soon after they met did they decide to get married?  Did they have to give up anything to get married?
Ask them about their children as babies  What did they feel about becoming parents?  What did they learn by being parents?  What advice would they give?

Ask them about themselves.  What are some of their happiest memories?  What are the books that influenced them the most?  The music that brings back memories?   Their most treasured possessions?  The things they couldn’t live without?  What are they most grateful for?  What are the most important things they’ve learned in life.

Everyone has a story. The greatest gift we can give is seeing others in all their wonder, seeing them anew with the eyes of love.