Leader's Guide November 2008

• November Family Faith Night
• Here's How to Get Started
• Family Memory Activity
• Discussion Article

November Family Faith Night

One easy way to use Take Out in your adult faith formation ministry is to offer a monthly series for parents to gather in small faith communities and discuss one article from each months’ issue. Take Out’s November issue includes tips on how to celebrate your family history (below). At your parish, why not gather families and ask them to bring a box of photos to create a montage or photo box together?
How to do it:

Here's How to Get Started

Reserve a room in your parish that is large enough to accommodate 25-50 people. Set up tables with 5-7 chairs at each. Having families sit at tables is an easy way to divide them into small groups.

Family Memory Activity

At each table provide two pair of scissors, several bottles of acetate-free glue, some colored construction paper and any other crafty odds and ends you may have around church (pipe cleaners, pom-poms, edging, string, stencils, crayons, etc.) You can also provide holy cards, small metal or wooden crosses, or any Catholic sacramentals for decoration and embellishment.

Encourage every family to use their creativity in creating a photo album or box. It helps to create the album with a theme in mind such as “Beth’s Baptism” or “Our Christmas Memories.” Each family can work on one photo montage, or each member present can work on their own.

Refreshments are always welcome and need not be fancy or time-consuming to display. Decaf coffee, juice and cookies are usually a welcome after-dinner treat.

As the families are working on their creations, ask them to think about and discuss the following questions:

1. What is your favorite family memory?
2. Why do you think we’re all laughing in so many pictures?
3. How does Christ dwell in your family?
4. Which picture do you think really “sums up” your family?
5. Who do we have the most pictures of in our family?  (The baby?  Grandma?  The family “clown?”)
6. Are your pictures of only the good times or tough times as well?
7. Does looking at pictures of our deceased loved ones bring us closer to them? How so?

Close with a prayer that everyone can say together:

Closing Prayer:

Lord, we thank you for the blessings of this day
And for this time together
As family.
Help us to remember those who have
So much less than we do.

Bless us as a family.
Help us grow in love
And care for each other
All the days of our lives.

Amen.

Creative Ways to Celebrate Your Family History and Heritage

By Dawn Staycoff and Heidi Busse

November is the month of memories in the Catholic Church. In this month, we honor and remember all of the saints who have gone before us in Christ — from St. Anthony to St. Patrick to your family’s beloved relatives and friends. Why not pick a chilly November weekend and celebrate your family (and the Church family!) by pulling out your old family photos, pouring the hot chocolate and passing on your family’s stories to the next generation.

Laughter and Tears

This project is sure to inspire lots of giggles about old hairstyles and trends (beehive, anyone?) and maybe even some tears as you tell the stories of generations past. Enjoy the together-time and let the emotions flow.

Scrapbooks and More…

There are many ways to order and preserve photographs today. “Scrapbooking” is the practice of combining photographs, memorabilia, written narratives, poetry, quotations or stories into a themed album. Scrapbooks can hold all sorts of objects such as newspaper clippings, baptismal certificates, play bills, worship aids, ticket stubs, pressed flowers, holy cards, even locks of hair. Scrapbooks are often embellished with ribbon or other pieces of fabric, colorful graphics and other artwork attached to the album pages. Many different types of scrapbooks can be made, including sacramental celebrations and family histories, personal journals and travel logs and so much more.

Getting started can be the hardest part. The first thing you will want to do is decide how you want to show off your photos. You have lots of options; you can really use any type of an album to scrapbook and to create the perfect memory for you to share with family and friends. You are only limited by your own creativity!

Helpful Hint: Not all scrapbooking materials are photo safe. Be sure your paper, glue and markers are labeled acid free and lignin free, or archival quality — using anything else will cause your pages to deteriorate over time.

Were you always one of those kids who struggled with art? Do you feel that you are especially “craft” challenged? Never fear! We have ideas for every skill level — from beginner to expert!

Easy!

Short on time, creativity or supplies? Here are perfect ideas for beginners:

• Make a photo collage for someone special (Grandma or Aunt Phyllis) by cutting up photos and gluing them on a piece of construction paper. Stick the paper in an inexpensive frame and you’re done. Makes a perfect gift.
• Pull out the crayons, paints and markers and have the kids decorate old shoe boxes to hold photos and other family memories. Cover the shoe boxes with white paper (the back side of wrapping paper works well) or brown craft paper and decorate each box with a them based on the photos you keep inside. Create a box for holiday photos, baby photos, Church celebrations, family parties or school accomplishments. Or have each child create and decorate their own box to include pictures and stuff from their lives thus far.
• Celebrate your Catholic heritage by creating personalized holy cards. If you have a color printer, simply print off a picture of each of your children and cut it into a square. On the back include information about that child’s favorite saint (or a saint you feel your child most emulates).

Moderate!

Have a little more time on your hands? Feel pretty good with a glue stick? Try these: 

• Purchase photo albums and load them up with your favorite photos. No need to worry about order or theme. Randomly place family photos in an album until it is full. Use index cards to write a little note or memory about a particular picture and place them under each photo. For example: “Emily’s baptism took place on Sunday, March 4.” List the guests who were present for her special day and describe any special happenings: “This is when Emily’s pacifier dropped into the font!”
• Save memorabilia from a recent trip and create a travel album. This album does not have to be limited to photos. You can include napkins from a fun place you ate or a flat shell from the beach, a bulletin or holy card from a Church you visitied. Anything from your trip or event can be used as an embellishment for your photo album. Handwrite or print out descriptions of each picture or item and glue the description next to the photo. (Hint: Descriptions might also be one word – “Fun!” “Faith” or “Relax.”)

Expert!

Have oodles of time and creativity?

• Older grade-school and middle-school kids will get a kick out of helping to create a digital photo montage — complete with music! Select the pictures you would like in the montage and scan them into a digital image file. Using your computer’s media software, drag pictures into the order you would like them to appear. Select transitions to create photo “movement.” Finally, add music to bring your photo montage to life. Burn to a DVD and give as a gift or keep in your family video library. Digital photo montages can be centered on a theme (Christmas through the years), or they can be chronological, celebrating life’s big moments — births, baptisms, children’s first Communion Mass, weddings, holidays, etc.