In honor of Family History Month, your challenge is to answer five questions from each Weekly Planner topic–or make up five of your own. This week’s topic is family. Here are some questions to get you started:
- How has a member of your family influenced you?
- How often did you see extended family (e.g., aunts, uncles, cousins), and what was it like when you all got together?
- What kind of traditions did/does your family observe? Were there special ways you celebrated birthdays? Holidays?
- Did your family have pets?
- What foods did you family enjoy? Was there a special dish that was always on the table at family get-togethers?
Feel free to share your memories in the Comments section of this post; or, if you have a blog, post a link to your responses. Your memory may help spark the memories of other readers who had similar experiences. For more interesting questions, see TheRememberingSite.org.
Previous challenges:
Here are my answers:
— How has a member of your family influenced you?
Wow, tough question. There are so many ways that family members have influenced me. My mom and dad gave me lots of love and taught me to love back. They also instilled in me a work ethic that boils down to, work hard and do your very best at everything you do. If it’s worth doing, it’s worth doing well. I still learn from them and from my sisters.
— How often did you see extended family (e.g., aunts, uncles, cousins), and what was it like when you all got together?
Lots of fun. Our family was spread out across the country and we visited various branches on different years when I was growing up. But no matter how long it had been, when were with family, it was like no time had passed at all–we were just family. I remember going to my uncle’s funeral in New York. I was grown up and it had been years since I had seen my cousins. But as soon as we got together, all those years slipped away and it was just like old times. That’s family.
— What kind of traditions did/does your family observe? Were there special ways you celebrated birthdays? Holidays?
One unusual tradition had to do with when we got together with cousins. Since we were unable to get together for birthdays, when we were together, we’d have an “un-birthday party” where we’d have cake and celebrate everyone’s birthday. Since we’re alone here in the Midwest, we typically celebrate holidays with immediate family.
For many years, at Christmas, a good friend of our family, Fr. Charlie would come and say midnight mass at our house for the family and then all the kids would open gifts on Christmas Eve.
— Did your family have pets?
We always had dogs growing up (but only one at a time). I always loved having animals and as soon as I moved out, I got two cats. Now I have three dogs and two cats and while they can be a handful, I wouldn’t give up any one of them. They’re a special part of my family.
— What foods did you family enjoy? Was there a special dish that was always on the table at family get-togethers?
My favorite dish growing up was my grandmother’s Chicken Paprikash. I still make it and it’s now one of my family’s favorite dishes.
For birthday’s, we always made Hungarian Nut Torte. Definitely a Szucs favorite! Again, this is now my daughter’s favorite cake. I love that these family dishes have continued to be favorites in our home.
I’m looking forward to reading some of your memories too!
Juliana
I wondered if you had seen the Family Fun article on a Family Memory Game. It’s definitely something that genealogists would enjoy – and could expand on.
http://familyfun.go.com/games/indoor-outdoor-games/feature/ff1107-game-of-family-stories/
Enjoy!
Thank you Nancy for sharing the link for the Family Memory game
The Remembering Site questions are a gold mine for anyone dealing with a person with Alzheimer’s Disease. An Alzheimer patient tends to change topics of conversation sporatically and suddenly. These questions give a caregiver topics or questions to help them follow the conversation.