It’s fun when two prompt projects collide.
I happened to be working on my family tree from the lil journal project from Ashley at ‘lil blue boo, and then also the prompt today from #amonthof #mycreativespace was “know your roots”.
Spooky!
Anyway here’s my effort on the family tree. As I am creatively suppressed, I used an idea I saw on Pinterest for the tree. Never mind the daggy looking flowers in the bottom left of the page. Two words. White. Out. Oh you can’t see it on this one. It’s a car crash. You want to look but you don’t. It’s that bad.
On the adjacent page I noted down all the important dates and places about my grandparents lives. All four were born in the Netherlands. All four lived through two world wars. My dad was born the year the second world war ended. My Oma R’s mum died when she was just ten – life changing! Both families immigrated to Australia in the 1950’s/1960’s. I never knew my Opa Reitsema as he died before I was born. My memories of my Opa Posthuma are vague; All I can remember is this big man sitting in his chair. He died when I was nine and his funeral is the first I can remember.
My memories are clearest of my Oma’s. Oma P was always around, Oma R moved to Perth from Tasmania later on in her life. They both spoiled us in their own special way. Banana lollies from Oma P were a highlight of any trip to her place, while Oma R tirelessly knitted outfits for all my dolls when I was younger. Paige still plays with some of the outfits to this day. Some of the colour combinations are actually very voguey now!
Knowing where you came from is important. It’s your family history that has made you who you are. Cherish it.
Do you know a little about your grandparents?
Find out!
little bit of thyme 
Now I know where Scott gets his love of banana lollies :-) I find this sort of stuff so fascinating. My Opa S wrote up his (and Oma’s) family history a few years ago, complete with scanned photos, and then gave it to us on CD, it’s so nice to have! Now I wish I had the same from my Mum’s side of the family but unfortunately it’s a bit late. Their lives were pretty difficult when they first immigrated!
To this day I LOVE banana lollies! You get told a lot of things growing up, but if you don’t write them down you forget. Everyone has a story. You should get your mum to write some history down that she can remember from growing up. x