In this age of digital pictures, I know it sounds old fashioned to have framed photographs sitting around, or to spend your time making photo albums when you can just look at pictures on your computer. But I think something is lost when you have to log on and click on your photo album. Besides, making the albums and framing the pictures can be a fun activity on one of these long winter weekends.
My son, Jake, is always stopping to pick up a picture on the hall table and ask me questions about the place, the year or the silly event pictured. We have photos in every room, sometimes just one or two, other times a collection. It's a way for him to get to know older relatives who are deceased, and to learn his place in our family tree. It's also fun for him to look back at some of our cool vacations, and even to make fun of his or my hairstyles over the years! (Jake's decided his school picture from last year was his best ever... and that his hair was lopsided in the 1st grade photo.)
The albums are a way to fill a rainy or snowy Saturday afternoon…either putting the pictures in, writing funny captions for them, or just taking down a couple albums and re-living the great times.
He has albums in his room from when he was a newborn, to when we went on vacation last summer and everything in between... summer camp action shots, birthday parties, Halloween costumes, sports and athletic events... we have at least 12 albums of all sizes on his shelves. And I know we'll do a couple more every year until he's in high school.
Sometimes we cut the pictures into fun shapes for variety; sometimes he provides the commentary in his own handwriting (which is so cute!) We try to construct the albums within 3 or 4 months of taking the trip or doing the activity so we don't forget any key details or the timeline.
We also have one of those neat digital photo albums that you can plug in and it repeats the family photos over and over until you unplug it. I like it a lot.
But there's something about seeing my son stop in front of a picture and ask a question that leads to a whole story... that is priceless. And it happens at least once a week if you have the framed pictures sitting around.
Fill your house with memories too, both the printed and digital kind!
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