During certain times of the year, like holidays, it’s easy to reconnect with family. But once those times are past, you may want to gather the family together to take a walk down memory lane. Doing so can help you reconnect, remember good times past, and make new memories to cherish in the future.

Old photographs are a great way to bring back memories. If you have old family photo albums, find them, take them out, and put them on a table in the center of the room. As you gather together as a family, you may want to name each person in the picture. This is particularly important if you have younger children or grandchildren who have never met some of the people in the pictures.

If you’re interested in genealogy, you may want to draw a rough layout of the photo album pages and number each photo so you can write down the names of those in the photo. Having this information will enable future generations to see what their ancestors looked like and who was in which family and how each is related to the others.

Talk about family stories. If Great Grandma and Great Grandpa emigrated from another country, talk about why they moved here. How did they travel and where did they live when they first arrived? Did they move to several places before finally settling at their last home?

What are other stories that you can share with your family? What traditions does the family share during holidays? Are there cultural aspects to your family that you want to your children and grandchildren to learn and continue in the future?

Maybe your family has taken movies over the years. Set up the projector or video tape machine and watch the movies. Laugh about the differences of clothing or hairstyles from the past. Enjoy the time you spend with your family while you’re watching; you may even want to pop some popcorn and make a night of it.

You may notice a little reluctance upon the part of younger children to sit and look at old photographs or watch old movies. However, if you make sure to include pictures or movies of them, their reluctance will soon disappear. They’ll also be more likely to sit and listen to old stories if you include stories about things they did as a baby or toddler.

Does your family have a reunion each year? Why not ask everyone to gather together family photos and take them with to the reunion? Be sure to keep your photos separate from others so they don’t get mixed up. You can also get several copies made so you can share your walk down memory lane with others in your extended family.