When is Enough Enough???

I'm done.  I finally finished the layout of my grandparents house and Christmas pictures.  Well, I think I am......

These were special pictures to me and when I looked at them, there were tons of stories running through me.  Around the same time, I found some pictures my grandma had been carrying in her wallet.  I remember the wallet but was not sure who the people were.  My next step in the investigation I called my mom.  She could tell me who the people where but as seems to always happen with the stories of your family, one memory lead to another and one question of "who is..." lead to another.  In the end, my mom is researching more details about her parents parents parents.  In the passing she did comment, "I wish I had listened more closely to the stories Aunt Gladys told when she was a live."  While I'm not always entirely sure my boys are interested in the stories my mom or I can tell from our past, there is just the chance, just a small chance sometime in the future that one of my grandchildren somewhere will be interested in the stories I remember when I look at these pictures.  If nothing else, it tells future generations something about their history and culture.  I may be unique.  I love stories of the past, I love pictures and knowing who the people are if they are related to me.  I am saddened when I go to antique shops where there are buckets of old heritage photos of someone's family for sale cheap.  No one knows who those people are.  Who were those beautiful people?  What did they do?  What was life like when they lived and played?  Who are their children and grandchildren?  Where did they live?  

This layout took forever.  Maybe I think too much, as some of my scrapping friends told me over that last few days.  Mostly, I think these pictures were important to me.  I had a hard time just choosing the stories to tell.  When I looked at the pictures I can see rooms; I smell the coffee, basement, linen, perfumes, peanuts; I hear the shoes across the carpeting and the click of them on the basement tile; I see the shadows created by the window panes in the sunlight; and more.  I remember watching the birds and my grandfather putting shaving cream on me when he shaved, and more.  It was hard to choose stories and harder, still to pick the words.  I finally ended up with an interactive layout meaning that behind one picture are more small protectors with the journaling of just some of the memories.  Will someone in the future look at them?  Will they smile?  

I had to take the picture of the layout in their protectors because of the way I journaled my stories.  Sorry, in advance.  I tried the light box but there was too much glare the colors were not as true as going outside and shooting in the sunlight.  After almost two weeks, it's time to call this done and move on......