My mother-in-law and I are making a scrapbook for her mom. Gramma P will be 99 on Christmas Eve, so for the first day of her 100th year we will give her a book for her life on Christmas.

MIL and I aren’t much alike and I am uncomfortable around her. This project has really given us something to do together. It’s kind of cool, because I know about scrapbooking and she doesn’t. She is really impressed with my tools and what I know how to do. We are having a good time.

I came up with an idea for the family tree and she has run with it and made it amazing. The roots are Gramma’s grandparents and great-grandparents. Then at the bottom of the trunk are her parents and coming off the low part are her sisters. At the center is a heart with Gramma’s initials + Grandpa’s. Coming off the top part are thick branches of MIL and her siblings. Each sibling has smaller branches with their kids (T’s generation) and then the next generation is little apples. 3 special people are on the tree in a different form. Gramma’s life long friend is a robin on one sister’s branch and their long time neighbor is a butterfly on another sister’s branch. MIL’s best friend is a female cardinal (with a shock of red hair) in a nest near her branch. It is so beautiful. It is truly a family tree.

Random fact: My father’s parents would be (about) 110 and 115 this year (he’s 66) and my mother’s parents would both be in their 80s (she’s 61).  My mother’s mother’s mother was born after my father’s mother.