Gather: Creating and Telling Family Holiday Stories

The holidays are a great time to collect family tales. They’re also a good time for sharing and discussing generational and historical stories.

This year, when you’re sitting around the table, washing dishes, watching a football game, or shopping with friends, here are some prompts to get the conversations going. Start by asking… “tell me about…”

• Your childhood home during the holidays
• The way your family decorated/decorates for the holidays
• A time you did something nice or naughty
• The best gift you ever got
• The best gift you ever gave
• Your favorite holiday tradition
• A special family recipe
• A moment of holiday inspiration
• Your earliest holiday memory
• Something outlandish a family member did during the holidays
• A difficult moment during a holiday
• A gift or recipe you worked very hard on turned out great – or didn’t – and why
• A time you embarrassed your mother (or father, siblings, spouse, children)
• Your mother (or father, siblings, spouse, or children) embarrassing you!
• Your most interesting relative – what they taught you?
• A time you learned “the truth” about a holiday
• A time you learned a family secret
• Your holiday travel plans turned upside down
• A normal journey turned into a hero’s journey
• You explored the dark and dangerous corners of . . .
• You followed through on a bold and crazy idea
• You had a holiday culinary adventure
• You shared a kiss under the mistletoe
• You were caught in the middle between two friends or family members
• You received a special gift from a friend or loved one
• A family misunderstanding
• A family tradition you never understood
• You introduced a new boyfriend or girlfriend to the family
• You experienced a holiday disaster
• You experienced a holiday miracle
• You understood the saying, “Friends are God’s apology for relations!”
• You attended disastrous family dinner
• You took part in a family holiday disaster
• You experienced the benefits (or the downside) of being the oldest (or the youngest, or the middle) child
• Someone in your family made a bad situation better
• You learned a truth (or delivered a truth) about Santa Claus
• You broke something valuable in your or a relative’s house
• You learned a family secret
• You got a new member in the family
• Your first time celebrating a holiday with a new family
• You took a holiday road trip or vacation
• A holiday joke was on you
• You had an encounter with a mystical seasonal creature (reindeer, Santa Clause, elf, turkey…)
• You had the longest airport delay ever
• You saved for a big holiday gift, but . . .
• You thought you knew what you were ordering, but
• You thought you knew how to work the Christmas lights (or oven, or snowmobile…)
• You attended or threw a memorable holiday party
• Your reservations were lost
• You got bumped from the airplane

List adapted for the holidays from: https://irelandjournal.typepad.com/tell_me_something_good/2021/08/the-big-list-of-story-prompts-by-liz-warren.html

Click to register for our free workshop: https://www.southmountaincc.edu/events/2021/collecting-and-telling-holiday-stories