Creating an heirloom - one letter at a time

Applegran what a lovely set of memories you must have captured - sure to be treasured and no mean feat when you have been busy with hands on visits too.

My daughter asked all the family to write a letter for our DGS in his first year that he can have to open when he is 18. She gave us 'all year' to do it, but I struggle every time I approach the task as I find myself wondering how to start ...
Dear ....
By the time you read this I may be dead, but ....

It is a sobering thought! And I just haven't found the words yet, but guess it will come to me eventually. He is now 19 months and so much more of a little man these days - just beginning to remember me between visits so maybe I will write and tell him what joy that gives me! On the day that he was born I did have the presence of mind to buy the (Sunday) Times to be kept for later.

Thank you for sharing your lovely idea.

Brilliant. Such a lovely way to keep memories.

A lovely idea.

What a lovely idea-wish I'd thought of that! Too late for eldest DGD-she'll be 21 soon.
On a slightly different tack when DGC were old enough to remember, we planted some tree seedlings/acorns in pots with them. I'm not green fingered but, somehow, they've managed to survive and a couple of years ago I bought some shallow bonsai pots and separated them all. They are doing really well and the older ones know all about them and see them on patio whenever they're here.

I love the idea of the letters and the seedlings and wish I'd done the same.

I have memory boxes with birthday cards and letters for both my GC in the hope that one day I will be able to give them to GC.

I love your idea Applegran.
I started scrap books for each of the four GC's when they were born.
We fill the pages with drawings, craft work, photographs, school reports, class work, certificates from sports, letters etc.
The eldest GD is now 13 years and treasures her 'Life Books' ...she now has four full ones.
I hope to continue to encourage the children to keep adding to their books.

When my daughters were born i started writing a book for each of them, their development, what they /we were doing, places we went to etc and continued this through until they were grown. They each have their book now and it is of particular interest to my daughter with children of her own sometimes to compare..and contrast!
Since my grand children were born i have done similar, with letters to them about the time we spend together and what we do, what they do, things that made them and me laugh, fun we had. I include theatre tickets, photos of us with them and anything else of interest.
I really love the idea of having it all printed into a book.

Imperfect, i too bought a newspaper on each of the days my children and grandchildren were born.

In 2015, my granddaughter's first Christmas, I wrote her first 'newsletter' telling her how very special she is, all the family having wsaited 20 years for this little IVF miracle against all the odds. I told her that she was born at 33 weeks weighing 3lbs. 6 ozs. I intend to write a Christmas Newsletter to her each year detailing all the things I remember that she did during that year with milestones etc. They will be put in a special book for her which she can read when she is older - and something to remember me by in later years.

I love Newquay's idea of planting trees with her DGC. In fact I am doing something similar - I have got viable acorns (not all are viable, so check about this on line if you take up this idea) and as each GC reaches 3 or 4 I help them plant acorns in pots, and later the little trees get planted out in their garden. The first oak tree is taller than all of us now and my DGD loves it - it is her tree!

It is lovely to read such positive responses to the idea of the "What we did" letters and, if you want to, putting them all in a book. I think it is something good to do when your GC are young, even if you didn't start when they were born.If you wanted, you could write a letter with photos about what you remember about their life so far, and then begin with the 'what we did letters' at whatever age they are. If you take this idea up, you could learn from my mistakes. I only had the idea of putting them in a book as the first DGD approached her 10th birthday, and though I'd saved most of the letters on my computer, they were not all in date order and they were all in separate Word files, which meant a lot of work to get them into shape for the printer. So with hindsight, here is what I'd have done to make it all easier: save each letter in date order and separately. This is your back up. And also as you go on create and build a single Word document with all the letters in date order. You can tidy it all up and add an introduction, title page and anything else you want, when you are ready to get it printed - but this basic Word document will be the basis of the book and save you hours of work when you get to the time to print. Once it is exactly how you want it, you save it as a PDF (but keep the Word version too) and send the PDF to the printer. I hope this helps anyone doing this! Do not be put off - it doesn't require great computer skills; if you can write a letter on the computer, you can make a book, and you are not trying to make it look super professional. It is by and for family and is fine to look a bit home designed!

Applegran, Thanks for the advice a bout printing but have handwritten mine into a lined spiral notebook. ....
Does this mean i would have to type it all out adding the photos and theatre etc tickets somehow? Or scan it all page by page? Am confused with pdf...think i may be a lost cause.

When DD's were born I kept their cot labels, name tags, going home outfits and New Baby cards. Over the years I kept school reports, school photos, artwork etc.
On their 18th birthdays I added champagne and gave them everything in a keepsake box which they loved.

My first grandchild is due mid September and I expect my daughter will do something similar. But this thread gives me ideas of some things that I can do too.
Thank you!

Oh do it flaxseed, i was 61 when i became a grandma for the first time and am very aware that i probably wont be dancing at our grandchildrens weddings so keeping a book, or writi ng letters to them is a wonderful way of bridging the generations. So though we arent around forev er they will remember the fun we had and the love we shared.

Since they were born I also have sent postcards to them whenever we have been away. I choose the card carefully and they love receiving them. they keep all the cards in a special box.

silverlining48 - don't give up! You have choices and scanning your letters in is not impossible , and (if your handwriting is better than mine) it will be lovely for the GC to have something handwritten by you. You can scan in photos too. Or, if you can type, you can take your time and type all the letters, or even see if anyone will do it for you. There is nothing difficult about pdf - please don't be put off - it is just another form to save a document in, and it means that it cannot be changed if you send it over the internet, so the printer receives the document as you sent it. Anyone with a little experience of computers can show you how to do this.

Thanks applegran, my writing couuld be tidier but i can type. Will look into it.