# 15 questions to ask your great-grandparent about the holidays

Holidays are the one scene a family repeats every year, so they are where character shows. Who cooked, who argued, who fell asleep. Have the great-grandchild ask the questions, even if you whisper them first. The answers are different when a child asks, and that recording is the one the family will keep.

1. What did your family eat on an ordinary weeknight, and what did you eat when there was something to celebrate?
2. What did Christmas, or the holiday that mattered in your house, actually look like? Who cooked, who argued, who fell asleep?
3. Is there a tradition you kept going that nobody else in the family understands?
4. Tell me about a meal that went wrong. A burnt bird, a dropped cake, a guest who should not have come.
5. Which dish is only made for one occasion, and what happens if someone makes it at the wrong time?
6. What did you get for Christmas, or the holiday that mattered, the year you remember best? Who gave it to you?
7. Who was always late to the holiday table, and what did your mother say when they finally arrived?
8. What was the holiday argument that happened every year? Who started it?
   The annual argument is a recurring scene; the book can use it three times.
9. What did you do on the day after the holiday, when everyone had gone?
10. Was there a holiday that was cancelled, missed, or spent somewhere strange? What happened?
11. What came out of the decorations box every year, and which thing was never thrown out despite being broken?
   The broken decoration that survives is an heirloom nobody calls one.
12. Who said grace, or made the toast, and what did they always say?
   Verbatim. The toast is a line of family liturgy.
13. What did you do for a birthday when you were a child? Was there a cake, and who made it?
14. What was the first holiday you hosted yourself, and what went wrong?
15. Which holiday did you spend away from the family, and where were you?

## How to use these questions

Ask by voice, not by form. Record it. One or two questions a visit is enough; the follow-up ("who else was there?", "what did she say?", "what happened the day after?") matters more than the next question on the list. Tender questions are marked; ask them once, late, and with "or would you rather leave that?" in the question itself.

## About Tellforth

Tellforth asks questions like these by voice, remembers every answer, asks the next question a good listener would, and writes a finished book from what was said: a memoir in the person's own words, or a novel built on the true story. You own every recording. https://tellforth.com