Christmas time and memories

If you have the opportunity to get together with family this Christmas, take the time to collect some family stories, write them down or better yet, record them. Go through picture albums and reminiscence and record those memories. It's really sad when family members pass away and they are the only ones who can identify people are in the pictures.

As you go through your pictures, label them. One thing I do with my old pictures is to make notes on sticky notes and attach them to the back of the photos, then later I can go back and transfer that information to wherever I need it. You don't want to use pens because they can bleed through  or if the pictures are stacked, it can smear onto another picture. You want to preserve your pictures and also make copies of them. Scanners are a good way to make copies of your pictures or if you're comfortable, you can use a camera to digitize those precious photos. Don't store pictures in magnetic albums, the albums are acidic and will eat away at your pictures.  If there is writing on the back of the pictures (people used to do that years ago, scan that information and you will also have your ancestors handwriting - got kids? See if they can read it, if not make sure to transcribe it). If you have pictures stuck to those pages, before you try and remove the pictures, I recommend getting a high quality scan and save it in a .tif format rather than .jpg. Removing stuck pictures from magnetic albums takes patience. One way to successfully remove those pictures is to very carefully slide dental floss between the picture and album page. Remember patience is key when you do this.

Share your photos, familysearch.com and ancestry.com. People working on family history love to find pictures of shared ancestors, and share the stories you have too. We have so many treasures that we can share with our families.

Over time pictures can be damaged or faded. Don't throw them away.  If you have any that are faded, discolored, torn, damaged, etc. let me know and I can bring them back to life. Pictures enable us to remember parts of our life we've forgotten.

And also have a very Merry Christmas and enjoy your time with your loved ones.