Treasure the memories

"We truly treasure those old memories when we allow them to motivate us in creating new memories to treasure and recording them in some way that allows us to bring these memories to future generations.  By creating new memories as well as the means to share those memories with those coming after us, we truly treasure our memories of the season."

Christmas is right around the corner, and as long-time members of the audience know, Christmas is my favorite holiday.  It’s the most wonderful time of the year.  And we know why.  There’s the time with family and friends, the food, the presents, the lights everywhere, and the general feeling of goodwill, just to name a few.

In addition, many of us will have our own slight adjustments to that list because we each have our own traditions for celebrating the season.  Those traditions create memories that can last a lifetime.  We can reflect back and relive the goodness of those moments, an experience bringing us joy again and again.

Yet we truly treasure those old memories when we allow them to motivate us in creating new memories to treasure and recording them in some way that allows us to bring these memories to future generations.  By creating new memories as well as the means to share those memories with those coming after us, we truly treasure our memories of the season.

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Relive past memories

We can all capture joy by reflecting back on treasured memories of past Christmases, particularly those that involve family traditions.  Some of my most treasured memories of Christmas as I grew up involved two special traditions: Christmas Eve dinner and Christmas morning breakfast.

Dinner on Christmas Eve was a huge smorgasbord.  We would list everything we wanted to eat — pizza, sandwiches, fried chicken, Chinese, whatever.  We’d intentionally get more than we could possibly eat in one setting so we’d have leftovers over the next 2-3 days and my mother wouldn’t have to cook.  It was my father’s annual present to my mother.

But we needed to have Christmas breakfast before getting to that point, and that was also a feast in its own right.  We’d have waffles, eggs, bacon, sausage, hashbrowns — pretty much anything you’d want for a big breakfast.  And just like the night before we’d have leftovers to eat the next couple of days.

What make these memories so treasured for me is that they required us to work together.  Our Christmas Eve smorgasbord usually required 2-3 of us each traveling a different route to secure a portion of the whole feast.  And we’d each take turns helping to fix parts of Christmas breakfast so each of us could shower and dress to get ready for it all.  By the time we were all dressed and ready, so was breakfast.

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Share past memories

Of course, treasured memories will die with us unless we create a channel to transmit them across the generations.  It’s great that my treasured memories bring goodness into my life whenever I relive them.  But how much more goodness can I bring into the world by recording my memories so that future generations can share in my joy?

Modern technology provides many options for all of us to record the memories we make each Christmas season.  I’m something of an old school fan here; I prefer handwritten journals.  But there’s plenty of other options.  You can record audio conversations with family members, or take photos of family being together, or record video of family members participating in family traditions.  Modern technology makes it really easy to capture the moments that make great memories.

And you don’t have to settle on just one channel for preserving and transmitting memories.  Again, modern technology makes it super easy to utilize multiple channels.  Some careful planning can maximize your readiness to capture the memory making moments you don’t anticipate as well the ones you do.

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Don’t miss the opportunity

However you choose to proceed, don’t miss the opportunity to make the most of your moments.  The memories that bring us joy from years past and the memories that will bring us joy in years to come arise from the actions we take now.  We truly treasure the memories we have today by working to make more memories we’ll have tomorrow.

And we amplify the goodness contained in those memories by creating channels for sharing it with future generations.  Don’t make the mistake of allowing your circumstances to decide your level of activity.  Even if you’re single without any direct descendants, don’t think there aren’t others in succeeding generations who’ll be interested in knowing more about your goodness.  Like light that shines for all to see, the goodness we each have can make memories everyone can treasure for years to come.

So treasure the memories you have by making new ones and recording them in some way for future generations.  When you do, you’ll expand the goodness you experience in our your own life and transmit that goodness to those who come after you.  And that will bring more joy in your journey.

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You can listen to the monologue from today's episode of Joy In The Journey Radio here.  Please also feel free to continue the conversation by leaving a comment below.  Want to hear more?  Listen to the whole show by going to the show page for this episode!