Cherished Memories

I wanted to do an article about creating heirloom memories that can be passed from generation to generation and with Thanksgiving and Christmas right around the corner I thought I would share this family created heirloom with you.

When I was little, back in the 1940’s money was tight and the family wanted to do something special for my grandparents but were not sure exactly what to do. Then my mother came up with an idea that all family members could participate in and it wouldn’t be a strain on anyone’s pocketbook. She decided to make a holiday tablecloth and have everyone draw a simple picture of their child onto the tablecloth. The drawings were then painted to make them permanent. As I remember, each picture had the name of the grandchild it represented under it.

As I grew up, I can remember this tablecloth being used every year at Thanksgiving and Christmas get-togethers. After grandma died, I have no idea what happened to the tablecloth.  I would love to know where it is today!

This might be a project that you would enjoy doing for your parents or grandparents. I can envision updating the idea using silhouette cutouts and including all members of a family group.  Then as each generation comes along, adding them to the tablecloth as well. I think this would be so much fun to see how a family grows from generation to generation!


You would probably need about 31/2 to 4 yards of muslin as the base for your tablecloth. You could decide on what type of cutouts you would use, either simple gingerbread boys and girls, the old fashioned silhouettes, or hand drawn pictures directly onto the table cloth. I think it would be nice to put each child’s name and birth date under their picture. With so many families now spread out all over the country, having them each mail their family creations to one person to finish the construction would be the simplest thing to do.

If you get started now you can have this put together and under the tree for Grandma and Grandpa. Can you imagine how thrilled they will be?
What other suggestions do you have for making heirlooms to pass from generation to generation?