Did you know there is an official National Day of Listening in the United States? It is the Friday after Thanksgiving, which occurs on November 29, 2024. (See link) It is a day dedicated to the art of active listening, fostering connections, and preserving the narratives and memories of our loved ones. This special day provides an opportunity to engage in meaningful conversations with family members, friends, and acquaintances. By engaging in acts of listening, stories, and experiences, lasting memories are captured and created. This day serves as a reminder of the value of listening and the power of storytelling to bridge generations and strengthen bonds. Without memories, we endanger learning more about our family and family history. Celebrating a Day of Listening can help save this history for generations to come.

With Thanksgiving Day approaching, millions of us will soon take part in their Thanksgiving traditions. As you gather with family and friends, consider incorporating a day of listening into your Thanksgiving activities. As you gather around the table on Thanksgiving Day, take a survey of who is familiar with the FamilySearch mobile app and who would be interested in tasting the delicious features of FamilySearch Memories app (See Link).

In preparing to indulge in a harvest feast of roundtable memories, cleanse your palate, by demonstrating the art of open-ended questions to encourage storytelling. Embrace the flavors of open-ended questions, like: “Can you tell me about a memorable experience from your childhood?” Cherish the sweet taste of memorable experiences while introducing the featured course of FamilySearch Memories app.

To facilitate using the FamilySearch Memories App, Angelle Anderson of the Family History Guide Association featured a Family History Guide Blog entitled “The Amazing Audio Feature of the FamilySearch Memories App.” (See Link) She shares, “In the FamilySearch Memories section of The Family History Guide, you will find step-by-step instructions (project 2, Goal 12) on how to use the free FamilySearch Memories mobile app to make sure moments like this are not lost. With this tool, you can take photos, record stories, and make audio recordings without having to first navigate to a person–you can even indicate later who is in the photos or stories. This makes capturing a family history moment a “piece of cake,” and sharing it even easier!”

Angella shared another blog post entitled, “Using FamilySearch Apps To Record Oral Histories. Leslie Albrecht Huber writes that this app “was created to make it easy for you to preserve family memories no matter where you are and to connect these preserved memories to your tree.” If you don’t have a FamilySearch account, you can get one here. Gathering, preserving, and sharing family memories has never been more fun as shown in this video found on our YouTube Channel (See Link). This family demonstrates how to use the FamilySearch audio recording feature to preserve information from living relatives.”

Now introduce the dessert by engaging family and friends in partaking a moment to digitally record a story about a dearly departed loved one and capture it in real time on the FamilySearch Memories app. Share this sweetness through a matter of seconds, and you will have shared an audio memory that your guests will enjoy immediately and that the world will discover forever on your relative’s FamilySearch Profile.

Now that you have fostered gratitude and strengthened family connections through these delightful memories, engage your senses of listening, storytelling, recording and writing and this delightful day will preserve your family history for generations to come.

Barbara Tubbs, Communications, Granite FamilySearch Center