Thanksgiving and Genealogy

WOW WOW WOW I am in the "Grandma Zone". I am preparing for grandchildren to visit and I am in overload. Let's hope I do not burn and die before they get here!!

I constructed a 10 generation ancestry wall chart to the living room wall---260 inches long 14 inches high LOL!! ALL those people just to make me!!! I want to use the wall chart along with some genealogy games and fun I have planned this week for the grandkids. (I will be blogging about this all week complete with photos).

WOW all year as I have worked on my genealogy I have been trying to think of ways to introduce my grandchildren to their ancestors in an interesting way. At library book sales and with the thanks of my dear friend, Ann, I would pick up history books, books on ancestry homelands and etc. I found books on the wars, the clothing, the life styles.
Also over the years of course I have consolidated letters written, book excerpts etc. of our ancestors.

So I strung a piece of wire across one wall of my living room and am piecing together a 10 ancestry wall chart made using Root Magic4. (Thank you BUZZ!) Then for several ancestors I have added colored dots. The color dots reference a story, or a letter, or book excerpt that I can share with the children. Alot of the stories I will be sharing, I have referred to in previous blogs. Of course the ancestor who out ran an Indian warrior. The Civil War. Jamestown. Presidents we are distantly related. Many of these stories relate to settlers and Indians cooperation in the living during the forming of these United States of America.

I purchased several 36x60 inch wall maps with dry erase capability. The before mentioned wall map has different family groups color coded. One of the activities I have planned is to help the kids trace the migration trails of their ancestors.

For the first grader I have the world map. I will allow him to show us via marker pen his mom's family coming from Nicaragua, his grandpa coming from Hawaii, and his grandfather's family coming from Spain and Portugal. Then the older children and I will work on the passages from 1600 Jamestown to present. I will certainly want to compare this map to a USA atlas to show how our major highways were built exactly on these migration trails. (Thank you, Suzie P for that bit of observation to share).

So how very very appropriate that this will tie into our feast on Thanksgiving as we celebrate this UNION of diverse cultures learning and caring for each other.
Sometimes we wonder why newspapers and radio glorify the misconduct of the most misled evil doers of our time. So it is throughout history ------ The negative relationships, the abuse, struggles are popularized. Just below horrific stories are "the greater good". The stories of heroes, courage, compassion, and that what sustains people, communities and the world as a whole.

BOTTOM LINE.................By the end of the week I hope in a small way I have shared
1---fun time with my grandchildren
2---show them that learning never stops throughout life (Grandma is still working on school like projects)
3---why we celebrate Thanksgiving
4---that even through unbelievable world circumstances, governments, wars, disease, starvation, and orphanage------that people can and do survive.
5---I love God, I love them, I love my (living and no longer living) family and I love America.