Weeks 23-26: 52 Weeks of Genealogy

Week 23: Wedding Bells

In preparation for our family reunion that I referenced in my Week 22 post, I made my Dad a family scrapbook. When I started working on it, I asked him if he had any family pictures and much to my surprise, he handed me a bunch that I had never seen. Included in the pile of photos were wedding photos of my paternal great grandparents. As a part of the reunion I asked my aunt, uncle and cousins to send me pictures too and pretty soon, I had wedding pictures of all of the family!

This page is the second page in the family scrapbook and one of my favorites. At the center is my paternal grandparents and above them, their parents, below them my parents and aunt and uncle and their spouses. Each picture is a different year or decade and the styles for each wedding photo were very different.

In the Shutterfly books I made for the families are the full wedding pictures of each of the couples, let the wedding bells ring!

Week 24: Artistic Quilts and other hand crafts

Sewing, crocheting, knitting, embroidery, and quilting are all hand crafts and forms of art. My mother-in-law is an artist in all of these! Each of her 10 grandchildren has a handmade, hand-stitched quilt from her. The first quilts were baby quilts given at birth, and the second set was given at the age of 11 or 12, crafted in the children's favorite colors at that time. She keeps fabric scraps for memory quilts. I received a quilt made from scraps of my late father-in-law's favorite shirts. She has passed her quilting skills to her daughters, who are both avid quilters.

Oldest son's "San Jose Sharks" quilt

During their first visit to our new home, she and my father-in-law brought along her "travel" sewing machine! Together, we crafted curtains for the kitchen, dining room, and boys' bedrooms, as well as a set of pillowcases to match the boys' comforter we made from sheets. Every birthday package I receive from her includes a set of handmade pot holders and a crocheted "scrubby," which we absolutely love and use every day.

Hand crafting quilts is truly an art form!

Week 25: Fan Club - Chicago Cubs fans for life!

Cubs fans waited 108 years to see the Cubs win a World Series. In 2016 Cubs fans world wide rejoiced! In game 7, the Cubs beat the Cleveland Indians 8-7. My husband is a die hard Chicago Cubs Fan. He is a fan because his mother was a fan, she would take him to games at Wrigley Field as a little boy.

My husband was born in Rockford, IL, and he and his group of friends from childhood still attend games together, some of them even going to World Series games together. I documented the momentous occasion in our family scrapbook. We've brought up our sons as Cubs fans, despite them spending most of their lives in California. The tradition carries on.

Week 26: Favorite Name - Namesakes

In our family, middle names are usually given in honor of relatives. I am Gail Marie, with Marie being my great-grandmother's name. My brother is Allan Joseph, named after our great-grandfather Joseph. My aunt is Michelle Marlen, with Marlen creatively combining the names of her grandmothers, Marie and Helen.

When we had children, we faced a dilemma. Our children were adopted and already had names. Fortunately, our first son was named Alexander, which was on my list of boy names, but we were unsure about his middle name. We decided to name him after both of our fathers, giving him two middle names: Alexander James August. It was perfect. We initially thought he would be our only child, so when our second child arrived, we ran out of names. We resolved it by naming him after my favorite Aunt Michelle, who is affectionately called "Mikey" in our family, and his middle name was the one given by his birth mother, Michael Denis. If any of my husband's friends ask about his name, he says, "After Mike Ditka of the Chicago Bears." That explanation works too!

Half way through 52 weeks!! What a milestone!!