My daughter, Lydia has a new imaginary friend. Her name is Grandma. Yes, Grandma. Grandma teaches her all kinds of new things–how to change diapers, how to juggle and how to whistle through her teeth. This is interesting because my grandmother can whistle through her teeth. Well, she could. She died when my Lydia was just a year old.

It makes me sad that my daughter will never get to play at Grandma’s house the way my brother and I did. It makes me sad she’ll never understand when we say, “That is just like Grandma!” or “Grandma always did that!”. But I am happy she loves my grandmother without even knowing her.

How did my grandmother spark Lydia’s imagination? Well, we talk about my grandmother a lot. We have a picture on our fridge of my grandmother, my mom and me and Disney World. Lydia wears one of my grandmother’s gardening shirts as a smock when she paints. My mom taught Lydia how to make a special Depression-era dessert my grandmother used to make.

Here are some more ideas to keep your departed loved ones’ memories alive for future generations:

1. Celebrate them on holidays by serving one of their favorite dishes or special recipes.

2. Look at pictures of them on their birthday.

3. Get together with your extended family for a special dinner on Grandparent’s Day to celebrate your great, great-great and great-great-great grandparents.

4. Use craft time to make a giant family tree. Let kids glue pictures and write names of their departed family members.

5. Write birth dates on the calendar. Talk about how old their family members would be this year.

How do you keep your family tree alive?

Photo by oh amanda