As a child I can recall some of the stories my parents had told me about how they immigrated to Canada. My mom got on a Pan Am jet plane and made Canada her new home with my dad. His family ran a restaurant downtown and grandma never really spoke any English but managed in the predominantly Portuguese neighbourhood they settled into. Everyone in the neighbourhood was from somewhere else and and everyone got along just fine. Food was always the topic that brought everyone together. It was like it's own language.
My kids don't know too much about the interesting history of our interracial family that is a mix of Scottish, Jamaican, Chinese, French, English and American but they are very keen when the grandparents begin telling their stories -- can imagine when they have that school project where they talk about the family tree? Ours needs a full size bristol board.
This coming September 11 happens to also be recognized as Grandparents Day and it's a great time for us to open those books to rediscover our lineage. But how much do we really know about our family history? Recent research from Ancestry reveals that 92% of Canadians believe knowing their family history is important. Uncovering some of details often reveals some pretty interesting details.
How far have you gone to explore your family's history? According to the research 56% of us don't know the names of our greart-grandparents or even what they looked like. Hmmmm. Now that I think of it. I don't know either.
On September 11, Ancentry is running a #MyGRANcestry challenge by encouraging Canadians to show how they are spending the day with their grandparents by taking a "grandparent selfie" on Twitter, Instagram, or Facebook.
In addition to celebrating Grandparents Day, we're giving away one AncestryDNA Kit (valued at $129 Cdn) to one of our lucky followers.
TO ENTER:
Follow us on Twitter and retweet this contest, "I'd love to win an AncestryDNA Kit from @Creviewer and @ancestry for #MyGRANcestry!" and we'll select one winners by September 16. Good luck to all who join!