When we think of October, we usually think of Halloween, candy, trick or treaters, goblins, and a host of other delightfully imaginative creatures of the night. It’s the one time of the year, when we simply can let our inner child run free and our love of sweets lead us to just “pig-out”. It’s one of the few times of the year when we send our diets, calorie counting, weight-watching, and scale monitoring on hiatus, and our one-night-stand with Dove, Hersheys, Mars, Ghirardelli, and other chocolate delights begin. Oh! We must not forget Peterbrooke, and although as adults we may or may not don the costume, we nevertheless find our happy place in that mixture of corn syrup, starch, nuts, and a host of other tasty ingredients. Mmmm—–good times.
However, in addition to Halloween, October is National Family History Month. This is a time when family and friends get together to reaffirm, to reconnect, and to establish new connections in their ancestral lineage. This can be accomplished as a day of fun, feast, and family, or it may be celebrated with a variety of activities throughout the month.
In addition to October, celebrating family history is truly something many of us do everyday.
It comes in many forms, such as:
- preparing and placing breakfast, lunch, or dinner on the table for the ones we love
- taking our children to school, to basketball practice, to band practice
- listening to our spouses or partners recall the events of their day (good and bad)
- taking time out of our schedule to do something nice for a family member, friend, or neighbor
- sharing our time and resources with those closest and/or less fortunate
- mentoring someone who may or may not be related to us in an effort to help them pass on something wonderful to the next generation
These are just a few of the ways we show appreciation and love to our family members and to others on a regular basis. For additional creative ideas for celebrating your family history during the month of October or anytime, see the following web links:
“10 Ways to Celebrate Family History Month”
http://genealogy.about.com/od/holidays/tp/family-history-month.htm
“October is National Family History Month: Here are some ideas to get your family involved”
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~minnkota/nfhm.html
“Five Projects for Family History Month”
http://www.ancestry.com/learn/library/article.aspx?article=2552
Also, Archives.com has put together a special blog post celebrating America’s diversity as part of the October celebration. http://www.archives.com/blog/industry-news/family-history-month-2011.html
In short, there is no right, wrong, or one way to celebrate our family. Families are formed and are linked together in many ways in addition to blood. Our concept of what constitutes a family has evolved over the years, and there are many types of families. Regardless of our family structure whether traditional, blended, and/or cultural, they all have one element in common – the love and appreciation for those who came before us.
It is this that we celebrate, educate, and pass onto those of us who follow. So– go ahead and make a family history memory for the ages. Celebrate!
