When is the last time you wrote a love letter to someone? So I was curious what that large box was in my parent’s closet for years. No one ever opened it. The box was extremely heavy for my eight year old arms to move, so I had to push it out of the closet with my feet. Once I got the box out, it was filled with a lot of old photo albums and letters. The letters were written from my mom and dad back and forth while my father was in Vietnam and my mother was still in college in Texas. It is interesting what you can learn about your parents when they are not looking. Secretly I started to read the letters. They were definitely in love. Yuck. I was not into boys at that age.

Now that I remember this moment when I was eight, I reflect back and realize how romantic that was. It was a collection of moments my parents might have forgotten about had they not saved every letter. It was a priceless moment.

Hold on to Love Letters

With Valentine’s day coming up, it is important to realize that love letters are not just meant for a girlfriend or boyfriend. They are meant for anyone we care about deeply. Handwritten letters add intimacy and interest to your heritage scrapbook pages or “Any Occasion” DIY Time Capsules. You can also pass on touching, love letters to your baby or grandchild in a Baby Time Capsule from www.timecapsule.com.

Hold on to your love letters for you never know when that special person may be gone and you long to hear their voice again. Just pull out that old letter again, and it is like they are still here with you.

What could be better than a love letter from your Grandfather to your Grandmother during the war or a sweet note from your sister about your baby? Document these memoirs in a scrapbook or preserve them in a time capsule. You will regret it if you don’t.

What to Write About

A message from the heart means the most. Your letter can express appreciation from those who have significantly affected your life. Who brought special joy, pleasure, or happy memories to you? Express love, apologies, seek forgiveness, reconciliation, or use the opportunity to express unfinished business (especially if you know someone is about to pass). Please be cautious not to give the letter to someone if it may harm their health more and stress them out more. Use the letter opportunity as a means to get things off of your chest that you have held onto for years. Then put the letter in a balloon and as the movie Frozen teaches, ‘Let it Go.’

Share your hopes and good wishes, or predictions of what happens to survivors. Share your values, or what you hope your family remembers from you. What do you want your children and grandchildren to pass on into the future and never forget.

Share Wisdom

Watching my parents now raise their own grandchildren has taught me a lot. Grandchildren love to talk. Grandparents are there to listen. It is a great role to use as a grandparent and explain to your grandchildren how things work in the world, answering their questions with a great amount of patience. You can use letters to let your grandchildren know you are always there for them. Teach your grandchildren what life was like when you were born through a letter. Explain about colors, flowers, animals, or share with them experiences you have when you were their age. You can communicate to them through the love letters. Save your art projects you make with your grandchildren in their own time capsule, so when you are no longer around, they can open the time capsule and hold something tangible and remember the time spent with you making that craft together.

With so much social media available nowadays, it is even easier to track your life everyday. Record what you do on a daily basis and put it on You Tube. You could even write down in a love letter to your children or grandchildren, the links to your videos, so when your child is older he or she can go back and watch the videos to know better what life was like for you while they were growing up. What were your questions as a parent or grandparent? What were your emotions or thoughts while raising your child? If you are a parent who is not allowed to see your children currently, due to a divorce or something else, use things like social media or You Tube to record your messages of hope, advice, or words of wisdom you want to offer your child in the future. You can still teach your child, even when they seem out of reach.

So go now, even if it is only a small scrap piece of paper. Get started sharing your messages of hope, stories of unconditional love, humor, and recipes you want to keep in the family. Write them down, save them in a time capsule, or give to your loved ones today. It is the greatest gift I can think of for you to pass on to your family this Valentine’s day.

Who do you want to write a love letter to today? Comment below.

Making Milestone Moments Count,

– Marcie

The post How to Write a Love Letter to Someone appeared first on Time Capsule | Personalized Gifts.

My new niece, Arden.

“Yes, you are officially a new parent Matt.” This is what I said to my brother this past Thanksgiving weekend as we all gathered together as a family. Now we are a bigger family, because he and his wife recently had their first baby. “You are taking more pictures now, than you ever have in the past.” “You are using Facebook more than ever, posting the new baby photos about every week.” That is the sign of new parent syndrome. It is a great sickness to have.

We love to hear and see stories in action, of parents or couples doing whatever it takes to preserve memories. That is what keeps family stories and traditions going. What fun memories did you make with your family this past Thanksgiving? It is never too late, because Christmas is coming up, then we start all over again with a new year filled with special days and events to make new memories.

How to Preserve Memories

Kwote App

Kids say the darndest things. It usually happens on the spur of a moment, so how do you capture that? If you are like me, I do not constantly have a pad of paper I am carrying around with me. Also, if I do not write it down that moment, and wait till later I get so busy that I forget to write it down. There are so many apps out there nowadays. Check out one called “Kwote.” It is completely free to use. Get your Kwote app here. Save your child’s quotes on a colorful background, then put them throughout your photo album or scrapbook pages. It is so cool and easy to use.

Save Grandparent Voices

Have a grandparent, baby sitter, family member, or friend, read your child’s favorite book out loud and record it. A great keepsake and from those you love and a comforting voice to listen to years later. You really do not know what you have until it is gone many times.

Holiday Memories

Thanksgiving is a perfect time to gather together around the table and take advantage of the time and get people to tell some of the stories of their life. Get the whole family involved. Make a game out of it. Go around the table and tell about something funny that happened in school. The key is not to wait. There are so many different ways to document these great stories for your kids and grandkids. Collect these memory makers, like old photographs, handwritten letters, newspaper articles, and family recipes while you are eating that delicious traditional pumpkin or apple pie on Thanksgiving day. A new recipe you create today, can become an old tradition years later when passed down from generation to generation.

 Photo from: http://www.oysmem.com/why-you-need-to-preserve-memories/

Create a Digital Scrapbook

There are so many options to use and digital scrapbooks you can find on Google. It is an option to dump all those photos collecting on your phone, in a creative keepsake fashion.

What are you doing to preserve your protective photos, slides, audio and video tapes. These are priceless, because they help us bridge gaps of generations in our family. If you are like me or most people, you are storing them in boxes and containers under the bed, or in closets or basement shelves. Preserve family stories and traditions, giving your children an answer to their future questions of where their family came from. Some memories may still be stored in your grandmother’s memory waiting to come out. Where ever they are, they are slipping away and deteriorating waiting to be preserved.

Get started now in preserving your memories and other tangible heirloom objects with a decorative Baby or Wedding Time Capsule from http://www.timecapsule.com.

What is your most valuable heirloom you would want saved in a time capsule? Comment below.

Making Milestone Moments Count,

–  Marcie

www.timecapsule.com

The post 4 Ways to Preserve Keepsake Memories and Heirloom Objects appeared first on Time Capsule | Personalized Gifts.

Who Can Use a Time Capsule? – Parents

Although it is a morbid thought, the truth is we are all going to die someday. That is the bad news. The good news is, we all have a chance to leave a legacy to our friends, family, and children. We can leave a legacy in a tangible way with a time capsule.

Do not wait until you are the parent who has to send your child off to college, only to notice the adult size shoes and clothes you pull out of the suitcase, as you help him or her unpack for their new life adventure. Leave memories in a lasting way, with the use of a time capsule. A time capsule is more than just social media, saving photos on Facebook, or posting your Throw Back Thursday pictures. A time capsule is about collecting the memorabilia that will not keep online, or in a scrapbook, or in an old box where mice and moths can destroy your precious memories. Let’s discuss time capsule ideas for parents.

A Celebration of Life

Don’t wait until the end, when most people have a “celebration of life” at a funeral. Start today and save those tangible memorabilia, souvenirs, and keepsakes in a decorative Baby Time Capsule from http://www.timecapsule.com. Keep special items, in a time capsule, about everyday life and what matters most – your children and family memories together. When parents make a time capsule with their children, it helps them feel a sense of connectedness on a deeper level.

You are not just your child’s “mom” or “dad.” Use a time capsule to explain to your grown child, about who all you really are, as your child opens their time capsule at their high-school graduation or as you leave their dorm room at college, and he or she starts a new life.

You are a “mom” or “dad” who has:

• saved their childhood pictures drawn
• saved their proud moments of finally nailing the sound on their band instrument, in an audio recording
• been the one who has saved their sweet 16 napkin from her Birthday party
• been the one who still has the key to his or her first car
• been the one who has their best years of Report Cards saved
• saved their journal or diary, to remind him or her what life was like as a young teenager
• saved their favorite childhood toy
• saved their most embarrassing or funny videos
• continued to make their favorite recipes holiday after holiday
• saved their sentimental baby blanket
• saved every day timer planner (each year of their life) of the many scheduled events, you have taken them to. (How do you have all this energy?)

The countless list goes on, as I am sure you are now thinking of the many ways you have been there for your children. Remind them of how much you love them with a decorative Baby Time Capsule to give them at their graduation, or whenever you choose to have them open it. What a day that will be as he or she is able to relive life the year they were born, or the first few years of their lives. Help your child truly understand how you contributed to their world. From the tiny baby feel of size 3, to the adult feet of size 13, there are many memories with tangible objects involved that we all do not want to let go or lose. Capture and preserve them in a lasting gift of the Baby Time Capsule. It is when you have to leave your child at college that your child’s life really flashed before your eyes. Get a time capsule to slow down this time and remember it. That time capsule now is not just a price, it is worth so much more. Priceless, as you freeze that moment in time, in a time capsule. Reminisce over the items in the time capsule, as you feel those emotions of empty nest syndrome come upon you. The time capsule helps you connect, no matter how far apart you are. Pass on the legacy from your family, of what matters most, treasured memories.

Making Milestone Moments Count,

www.timecapsule.com

The post Time Capsule Ideas for Parents appeared first on Time Capsule | Personalized Gifts.

Memories are some of the most special moments we want to treasure forever. That is more difficult for us all, as we get older.

“She just does not seem to be all there anymore. She is forgetting more. She is having a hard time recognizing me as her daughter. She is forgetting my name.” – my Aunt complained to my mother over the phone. My aunt was living in Texas with my grandmother, and my mom (her sister) lives in Indiana. It was heart retching knowing there was very little my mother could do, to help my Aunt and Grandmother, in Indiana.

What To Do To Help the Older Generation

Despite our distance, my grandmother and I were close. She prayed for my future husband for years, wherever he was in life, to be ready for me mentally, emotionally, and physically. Her prayers worked as I found “the one.” How could I ever give back to my grandmother who was an Alzheimer patient. I do not wish this problem, or any other memory disorder, on anyone. It is hard to deal with, as family members let alone being the actual person trying to live through this struggle.

How a Memory Box or Time Capsule Helps

Even though my family lived far away from my grandmother, that does not mean we could not help. We helped my Aunt recall memories, wrote down stories we remembered, recorded our voices, and of course as grandchildren created homemade cards for grandma.

A memory box or time capsule can do a similar function to help. What would you put in a memory box to stir up a loved one’s memory, emotions, and thoughts?

Image taken from http://sheffieldtimewalk.wordpress.com/2013/12/05/manor-memories/

A Memory Box or Time Capsule helps us all Recall the Past

Include things like:

• Newspaper clipping of special events, or marriage announcement

• Postcards of places visited

• Favorite recipes (maybe even take the time then to make the recipe together)

• A letter from each of you as family members thanking your loved one for all he or she has done for you.

• Family photos

• Special necklace or watch your loved one constantly used to wear

• Video of your loved one growing up. Go through the video slowly pausing to say each person’s name (especially if they are family members) to help your loved one recall names with faces.

• Hobbies your loved one usually does (for example: a sample of his or her quilt or a golf ball)

• Include items which an Alzheimer’s patient loves or boosts their self-esteem. Things that give your loved one their identity back.

• A memory box or time capsule can help an Alzheimer’s patient on all sensory levels. Include things that relate to all their senses. For example, maybe include their favorite perfume or cologne in a small bottle.

This is a fun activity to do for the family, as much as it is for your loved one to open the memory box or time capsule. You all get to share sentimental moments with each other, bonding closer and inspiring conversation about the nostalgic items. Whatever you include in your memory box or time capsule, make sure it reflects the senior’s loves, interests, and significant or milestone moments in the history of their lives, and has strong meaning to him or her. You may want to include an inventory checklist of each item you include with a tag on each item with the story associated with each nostalgic memento. This will help your loved one be able to read and review things on their own time too.

If everything goes well, memory boxes are a great means to help an alzheimer’s patient, because when a senior sees one memory trigger, it may help them recall another memory to talk about. You may even find out something new about them, that you had no idea about. To read more about this topic, check out http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2012-10/09/music-memory-box

What would you put in a memory box or time capsule for your older loved one, to help them remember better? Comment below.

Making Milestone Moments Count,

www.timecapsule.com

Credits:

Main Family Quote is available as wall art from http://www.wisedecor.com/decor/wall-art/theloveinour.html

The post Top 10 Reasons to Make a Time Capsule for an Alzheimer Patient appeared first on Time Capsule | Personalized Gifts.

Time capsules are unique items, to help keep the past alive. They can help us pass on traditions, memories, stories, sayings, treasured keepsakes, photos, etc. There are many items to include in a time capsule. It is a personalized item. For example:

• Copies of birth certificates, marriage certificates, diplomas, report cards or any other important and milestone moment paperwork.
• Cards, emails, photographs
• Flowers from your wedding day or locks of hair
• Any ticket stubs, movie 3D glasses, honeymoon itineraries
• Fabric swatches
• Menus, shot glass, souvenirs
• Favorite quotes, music, poems, sayings, prayers, books
• Recipes
• Pocket watch
• Handprint or footprint
• Newspaper (especially of an important day, like when a sports team won the Super Bowl)
• Blueprint of your home
• Important life items that you always carry with your (worry stone, necklace, favorite pen, etc)
• Items of that time (popular toy of that year, advertisements from the paper, magazine, coins, stamps, etc)
• Letters from friends and family about where you will be 20 years from now, or whenever you decide to open the time capsule.
• Recordings or video of family at that time with audio/video means to play it back in the future

Check out the sample Wedding and Baby Time Capsules at www.timecapsule.com for other ideas on their Inventory Checklist.

When do we open the Time Capsule?

This is a personal choice. Most people choose a significant date or holiday to open their time capsule. How long you wait until you open the time capsule, is your choice. On average, about 25 years is the minimal length of time. To a child, this could be the worst Christmas present (because they have to wait so long), however to an adult (time flies), and even if the time capsule sits out as decoration or is buried, you do not want to forget where you placed it. It is suggested you keep a map of where you placed the time capsule (in your fire safety box), especially if you bury it, so you know where it is in the future. So, what would you put in your time capsule?

Watch this quick video on “How to Make a Time Capsule” at: http://www.howcast.com/videos/354335-How-to-Make-a-Time-Capsule

Making Milestone Moments Count,

www.timecapsule.com

The post What Would You Put In Your Time Capsule? appeared first on Time Capsule | Personalized Gifts.