How to Make Lasting Memories with Your Grandparents

Grandparents are a family’s link to the past; they’re natural historians and have a wealth of wisdom to share, if we’re willing to listen. Sadly, it’s all too easy to neglect our relationships with the older, wiser members of our families, realizing all too late just how precious our shared time together can be. Cherished memories are like the glue that holds it all together. Fond recollections of holidays or celebrations, but also the quiet quality time spent together can be more valuable than any photo album or heirloom. Here are a few ideas for building those treasured memories with grandparents, right now. 

Take a trip to where they were born

There’s something really special about making a pilgrimage of sorts to the place your grandparents were born. If they’re able, invite them on a trip that traces back their early years, and if they’re interested, you could even turn the excursion into a dig into the family’s ancestry

Just Go Holidays offers short guided trips to historic locations and fine houses all across Europe, Britain and America, or you could opt for vacation with a literature or music theme, or visit a Christmas market during the festive season. It’s the perfect opportunity to have a fun getaway, learn a little about your own history, and make memories that will last well after you’re back at home and enjoying all the photographs.

Make a DIY documentary

Grandparents have had a rich, full and colorful life – start chatting with them about their memories and you may be surprised at what you learn about them! What was it like when they were children? What did they want to be when they grew up? What where their parents and great-grandparents like? What can they remember from the important historical events they lived through?

A great idea is to make a video diary of your conversations, and chronicle their lives in an informal “interview” that the grandchildren can participate in. You can also try the preexistent autobiography template  It will help to improve creativity. Grandparents are likely to be flattered and you can have fun editing the footage into something the family can appreciate for years to come. 

Create a cookbook together

One of your grandparents most valuable memories might be exactly how to make their famous apple pie or what the secret ingredient for their Thanksgiving stuffing is! Parents and grandkids can spend plenty of quality time in the kitchen helping grandpa and grandma prepare the recipes they themselves may have learnt from their grandparents – it’s like a (delicious) history lesson.

Offer to compile the family favorites into a cookbook and distribute copies for Christmas presents. You could include handwritten notes from grandpa and grandma and old candid photos that capture the culinary tradition that these recipes are a part of.

Ask them to teach you something

When people are asked about their go-to memories of grandparents and great-grandparents, they often talk about happy times spent together learning to fish, knit, cook, or fix the car. Your grandparent is likely to be thrilled to be asked their opinion or to share their expertise. Instead of Googling how to do something or hiring a professional, ask a grandparent to show you how. If they have a special skill or talent, you might even ask them to give you a few lessons or pointers – you might then remember those special moments every time you play the instrument they taught you to play, or use the tools they showed you how to clean and store correctly. 

It’s all about creating a strong, happy connection to the past by drawing on the years of experience and knowledge your grandparents have accumulated. If you’re lucky, you may even learn about a rare skill that isn’t widely practiced anymore, such as a family technique for preserving tomatoes that began centuries ago in your grandparent’s hometown in Sicily.

Help them go through their bucket list

Is there something your grandparent has always wanted to do? What better gift than to find out a way to make that dream a reality for them, all the while giving you the opportunity to create memories that will last a lifetime. You don’t need a lot of money to give them an experience they’ll cherish – it could be as simply as taking them out to dinner to enjoy cuisine they’ve never really tried before, inviting them to the opera or ballet, or having fun with a silly activity that they never quite got around to doing but always wondered about. Chances are, you’ll have a great time, too.

 

About The Author

Lily is a freelance writer focused on mental health and family relationships. From a young age Lily has been passionate about the importance of social connection. When she isn’t writing, she can be found walking her cocker spaniel or getting stuck into a new baking recipe.

 

 

 

 

 

My Grandparents Love Has Shown Me ‘Happily Ever After’ is Possible

We come from a time where if something was broken, we fix it. Not throw it away.” -Unknown

I believe in one beautiful marriage thanks to my grandparents.

I know in today’s society it’s hard to even keep a relationship going longer than keeping a fish alive. We have Tinder, where the meaning of falling in love has turned into a vain swipe of the finger.

Our society has given us a skewed view of love and marriage that isn’t true. Apparently, divorce is a way out, marriage is a trap, and the idea of being with one person for the rest of your life is not ideal.

I think our generation has lost the real beauty of love and marriage.

If we have this mindset all our life, that loving someone who we marry is optional, we start to believe it. And the marriage that was supposed to be “till death does us part” becomes a reflection of it.

Growing up, as I watched my grandparent’s marriage, I’ve come to believe “forever and always” might actually be true.

I’ve always aspired to have a marriage like my grandparent’s.

They just celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary… and counting.

They taught me love is real and true love is lasting.

Marry your best friend.

Friendship is key. As cliche as this sounds it is the absolute truth. From the day you say I do to 60 years later you are still able to laugh together. How rare is it to have someone who will make you smile most of your life? Laughter makes life and marriage beautiful and lasting.

Have different interests.

My grandma loves art and my grandpa loves music. Two different things can come together.

My grandpa will invite me into his office and we will listen to Frank Sinatra for hours while my grandma will show me her art she’s painted and baskets she weaved.

They don’t need to do everything together all their lives. They find simple pleasures in life that are separate from each other.

To love a good man, you need to be a good woman. And vice versa.

Who we are is a reflection of who we love. We admire their kindness, compassion, and sense of self. What we lack they have. We learn to be a better person because of them. We learn to love this individual in a way no one ever can.

Bicker, do not fight.

My grandparents have disagreed on how to make a sandwich for sixty years. Sixty years of love and happiness and, of course, petty bickering. You do not give up on love because you do not agree on something. You call each other incompetent, laugh about it, and get over it.

You do not hold a grudge or point out their flaws. You simply get over it, because any time that you spend disliking each other turns into resentment. Marriage isn’t built and cannot last on resentment.

Choose to love.

Life has a way of taking away our happiness and then giving it back to us in a fierce repeating cycle. The days when it seems most incapable to love are the ones when you need to love the most.

You get to choose every day to love this person for the imperfect person they are.

Never give up.

When all you can afford to have for dinner is potatoes and onions, it could turn into being one of your most special nights together. It’s not the quality of the dinner or the quality of the date, it’s just about quality time.

And spending that time with your best friend. Hard times will surface, but how you react to them and how you overcome them matter the most.

Forgive each other

A heart that cannot forgive is one that cannot love. Forgive them and keep forgiving them. Sixty years is a long time to not be able to forgive someone for their mistakes, their past, and their faults.

Life and love is a gift

And having a life full of love is an even more precious gift.

Times were not easy then and they do not get any easier. Falling in love, starting a family, and creating a life together is a gift and it keeps giving generation after generation.

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