We have heard about the Family Tree. Recounting our past family members; when they were born, when they married and died, along with the children they had together. What if you could map your family now, for those yet to be born into your family? Your family in pictures for future generation to see, love, and learn about you and your family.

How about creating a family book? Picture-filled pages of your family during all stages of life; from your marriage, to the births of your children, even a special vacation your family took. Plus, there is no need to fill up one book with everything. You can create a book of your marriage, another of each child’s birth, even the big promotion at work. No limits to what can be created.

Yes, this is very similar to scrapbooks, but what is so interesting with this concept, you can create an actual hardcover book that will be published for you and your family and will last a lifetime. You can have several printed and give one to other family members, like parents, aunts, uncles, and siblings.

Now where to go to create your family masterpiece? Blurb.com. It is incredibly easy to create your books with Blurb. You go to the Web site, download the free bookmaking software, and off you go. Create your book to your liking, then submit for publication.

Pricing is on the Blurb site, and it may seem a little pricey, but knowing that I will have a timeless treasure of my family, the prices don’t seem too off. What is great, if you create a family fun book of where you live and neat locations, you can always market your book on the Blurb site for profit.

Here is what I’m doing: I am letting each one of my kids come up with their own book about themselves. They will get to add their favorite pictures, things they like, thing that don’t like,and so on. Then I will publish the books to pass out to their grandparents as gifts. Nifty idea.