Best Mother's Day Present: Memory Box

Now that I am a mother, I have a better idea of what mothers really want as gifts from their children for Mother’s Day. They want to know their children love them, and that their offspring appreciate the millions of things they do for them everyday to try to make their lives a little better.

And, since I’m also very interested in genealogy/family history, I know how important it is to share our stories with each other - and with future generations. We have census records and the like to tell us who our ancestors were and where they lived, but how many of us are actually lucky enough to have a personal record of what our ancestors were like in their daily habits - what they liked to eat or wear, or even what they were thinking on any particular day.

That’s where this idea came from. How great would it be to put together a little memento box for your mother, or to help your children put one together for their mother?

Personal gifts are always the best, and this memory box can be a gift for everyone in your family.

• small plastic storage container
• colored notecards
• black Sharpie
  
• printed digital family photos to decorate the box
• plastic adhesive
• memories to write down
  

Get a small plastic container - about the size of a shoebox.

Print out several family photographs (or dig some old ones out from your photo drawer) and use a strong glue to attach them to the outside of your plastic container. Keep some extras out to put inside the keepsake box, as well.

Take some of the notecards and start writing down some memories (or help your children by writing down their memories). Need some ideas to begin? How about: "One thing I love about you is ..."; "My favorite memory of you is ..."; or "I love it when you ... with me"?

Put the notecards in the box with the photos and any other little trinkets you want to include. If you have small children, you might want to have them draw pictures on construction paper and put those in the box, too.

Then you can wrap the whole thing up in wrapping paper, or put it in a huge gift bag to give to Mom.

Anyone can use this idea for a great Mother's Day gift that will thrill her for years to come, but it is an especially good idea to get children to begin this when they are very young. Each Mother's Day afterwards, you can put more notecards or trinkets in the box to tell Mom how much she means to you. And, if you run out of room in your box, you can always get another one!

Your mother will treasure this gift as long as she lives, and your kids will be able to pass it down to their children, so that they can hopefully share it with future generations. Then your descendants will have more than just a passing knowledge of your name. They will know a little more about who your mother was, and how much you loved her.

Now that you've shared your story with your mother, maybe you'll want her to share more of her story with you. If so, check out these great little books.