This week, many of us will spend at least a day or two with our extended families. Moms, dads, siblings, grandparents, nieces, nephews, aunts, uncles, great grandparents, cousins -- chances are you'll cross paths with some of these folks. While everyone is herded together, it's a great time to learn something about your family's history. But how do you start? Here are a few suggestions.

Take pictures. Make it a point to get at least one good picture of everybody. But don't stop there. When the photos are printed, identify them. You may know who everybody is, but will the next family historian? I have boxes of wonderful photographs of people that are definitely related to me, but after 3 or 4 generations, nobody can identify them anymore. Take the time to put the person's full name and the date on the photo. And don't forget -- you can upload your pictures to Storytrax so that your whole family can see them online. To keep it private, just check the box "Only allow users in my friends and family to view the story" then make sure the members of your family are all signed up for Storytrax and that you have listed them in your family and friends list.

Ask questions. A few simple questions are usually all it takes to get the stories flowing. I've found that it can be really fun to get people talking together in a group because each person remembers some little detail of an event that nobody else remembered. As the conversation gets rolling, it can get pretty interesting. Ask basic questions: when were you born, where did you go to school, where did/do you work, what do you do. In a group, ask things like: what was the best Thanksgiving ever? The worst? What's your favorite holiday tradition? What do you look forward to most about the holidays? How did you celebrate when you were a kid? Other family members will probably have questions, too.  If you're the family historian, you can record this conversation by jotting down a few notes, or by using a tape recorder or digital voice recorder or even a video camera. Just make sure to take some time within the next day or so to identify everybody, just like you do with the photographs.

Break out the old photo albums and videos. If you have some photos of people or places that you can't identify, bring them out while everybody's together. Maybe somebody will know who those people are.

Follow up. You'll probably have more questions that you'll discover as you organize your photos, notes, etc. If possible, and while it's still fresh in your mind, follow up with people. Give them a call, send an email, or drop by for a visit. There may be more information about some topics that you can get more easily by talking to just one or two people rather than the whole family.

It really doesn't matter what you do or where you start as the family historian. The important thing is that you do something. Your family is going to be your family for a long time, and it just makes sense to get to understand what you all have in common.