A Thanksgiving Conversation Everyone Agrees On
The stories these chairs can tell…
It’s easy to overlook year after year. Mostly because, it seems, the same stories are retold every year - before dinner, during, and whoa - after the wine and food! You have the same seating ‘assignments’, the same dishes, the frustrations, until one year…all of that changes.
Reflecting back on the last few years of my family’s dinner table, there are a few more empty chairs than when I was a child. That also means a few less stories being told. While we try to reminisce, it’s just not the same as hearing it in their own words, with their own charm and quirks. And after Covid (at least the worst of it) - there will be millions of families this Thanksgiving who will have at least one empty chair that was filled just a year before. No more stories or belly laughs coming from that chair. Maybe an traditional side dish is not being served. It will be missed, even if it wasn’t the favorite.
The conversation that is more important than ever this year - those family stories! Tell them! Savor them. Talk about how to preserve them.
Our families' make-up is fluid. There are births, deaths, separations. We just do not know what next Thanksgiving will look like. I mean, who knew how last year’s Thanksgiving would play out even by March of 2020? We take our lives for granted.
When you’re talking about these stories - find a way to capture them, being told in the person’s own words, their own voice. Then you’ll have them for many future Thanksgivings, for future grandchildren to get to know family members that used to sit around the same table.
Maybe it’s a designated person in your family who documents, maybe a representative from each family or everyone participates. Here are some ways to capture those stories;
Dictate and write. Have someone tell a story and somebody else will write or type their story. This can later be bound in a book or even just saved as a PDF.
Record a video or audio. Record dinner on video. Nothing fancy. Set up a tripod and record from a camera or even a phone. Or, just record audio from the middle of the table. (Some folks only open up without a camera in front of them).
Everyone writes (or types) their own favorite story - either one about themselves or someone else. This is something that can be done ahead of Thanksgiving and shared during dinner! (And recorded!)
Schedule a Family Stories Session - professionally filmed in your home. Since every family is unique - this film will be customized to your family.
It can be an interview with one family member (either interviewed by me or the family!)
It can be the grandparents! (They have an arsenal of stories!)
Just grandkids! I once recorded grandkids holding up answers cards when asked questions about the grandparents for an anniversary. Priceless!
The whole extended family! Having a get-together or reunion? Let’s set up the lights and camera and get everyone in on the action! You can interview each family unit separately and then show the entire film to everyone at once as a surprise!
If you’re ready for some fun ideas for Family Stories Sessions - I’m ready to brainstorm with you! Fill out this contact form. If you book before the end of 2021 and include in the form’s message area “Time to Talk Turkey” - I will give you 25% off your film! *The session must be scheduled in our books in 2021! (Dates in 2022 are excluded).
If you would like to learn more: https://www.viamusevideos.com/family-legacy-stories
