FROM THE MY LIFE STORY WORKBOOK
A Sentimental Christmas Gift for Mom She'll Fill In for Years
A homemade gift you print at home: a memory book about her life, wrapped with a gift certificate, filled in over many cups of coffee.
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Sentimental Christmas gifts for Mom usually point backward: framed photos, a necklace with birthstones. This one asks her to look back herself, and gives you her answers to keep.
My Life Story is a printable, fillable memory workbook: 80 pages, nearly 300 questions about her life, with large 13.5-point type and plenty of room to write. You print it at home, put it in a binder or have it bound, and give it with the printable gift certificate that comes with it. It's homemade in the good sense. You made it happen, and she fills it in.
How to give it
- Buy and download. The workbook and the gift certificate arrive as two PDFs by email within minutes.
- Print the certificate and write a note. "A Gift of Stories" has lines for her name, yours and a few words from you. It fits in a Christmas card.
- Print and bind the book. Print it at home or at any copy shop. Ask for a coil binding so it lies flat, or use a 3-ring binder.
- Write the first page yourself. The dedication page has room for "Why we want to hear your stories". Write yours before you wrap it.
- Plan the first question. Pick one to ask her on Christmas Day, and write her answer down for her.
Chapter 4 · Growing Up
Sample questions: when she was young
What did you do for fun as a teenager?
What was the first big thing you bought with your own money?
Tell about your first date, first dance or first crush.
Chapter 6 · The People I Loved
The people she loved
Who was the first person outside your family you felt truly close to?
What was an early outing or visit together like?
What did you and your partner most enjoy doing on a day off?
What did they teach you?
Which friendship changed over the years, and what did you learn from it?
Tell about the person who has mattered most in your life, and what made them that person.
Any kind of love counts: a partner, a friend, a relative. You could start with how you met.
Chapter 7 · Becoming a Parent
Being a mom, and the children in her life
Tell about a moment when you felt proud of one of your children.
Who are the children who have been part of your life: nieces, nephews, students, neighbors, godchildren?
What did you most enjoy doing with them?
What do you hope they remember about you?
Start Here
Easy ones to start with
What food always tastes like home to you?
What was your favorite piece of clothing, and what color was it?
What can you cook, fix or make better than anyone?
What would you order for your perfect birthday dinner?
Chapter 11 · What Matters to Me
What matters to her
Which small pleasures make you happiest?
What does a good life look like to you?
What gives you comfort on a hard day?
Chapter 12 · My Favorites
Her favorites
The workbook's My Favorites page asks for each one, and why.
- Songs or music
- Books
- Foods
- Sayings I live by
- Smells I love
So it doesn't feel like homework
- A sentence is enough. Each chapter has a Quick answers page with short fill-ins, and many questions have a hint to get her started.
- She can skip anything. If a question doesn't fit her life, she turns the page. Nothing is required.
- Screen or paper, her choice. She can type into the fillable PDF on a computer, or write by hand on the printed pages.
- Fill it in together. Interview Mode in the book shows you how to ask the questions and write or record her answers.
Get this list as a printable PDF ›
From My Life Story, a printable memory workbook with nearly 300 questions · papersinorder.com/life-story/
