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You don't have to live close to be or feel close... Closeness in any relationship does not have to be governed by geographical proximity. Hearts can remain close even when several miles apart. In this age, when technology and the Internet bridges the miles and brings people into the global village, it is all the easier to stay in touch, the electronic way! Here are some suggestions and ideas, if you are stumped for them! Send e-cards for all occasions. It's easy. Blue Mountain has, for instance, an option where you can even add your own voice to the greeting. There are also many other such sites. Just search for free greeting cards. Start your own simple homepage. You need not know html coding or anything complicated. Share the family history   find out about places where your ancestors were born. Send your circle the links and keep your history alive. - Send photographs and drawings back and forth by e-mail.
Send the people you are in touch with, sites about the community where you live and they can do the same for you. If you are trying to stay in touch with a child, do "Round Robin" stories by e-mail. You take turns adding a part to the story and see where it goes. - Try a Voice Chat.
Register for a free and private passworded family website at Myfamily.com. You will get a private family chat room where you and your family can visit, a photo album and calendar of events and birthdays that everyone in the family can add to. As a webpage or e-mail attachment, develop a "Home Bulletin Board". This can be used to post bits on what is happening in the family, online newspaper and magazine articles, photographs, favourite cartoons and comic strips, upcoming events, etc. The board can be cleared once a week or so. Make a family e-mail journal. Record daily happenings   like first words, first experiences, first day at school, etc., as they happen. Every one can make a SHORT entry everyday. - Play online interactive games together.
- Trade recipes by e-mail.
"Talk at Bedtime" by e-mail. You could write what you did that day or something that is troubling you or something you want to do. - Make a story "scrapbook" of favourite family anecdotes. Save it as a special e-mail file.
- Exchange riddles and jokes by e-mail. Start your own "Joke of the Day" service.
Send "I Love You" reminders often by e-mail. Other reminders might include: "You're the Greatest" and "You're my Favourite Girl". People just can't hear this too often. Create a simple Family Tree and e-mail it. The whole clan can help filling in the branches, and soon you will have a huge flourishing tree. Visit Family Tree Maker. - Be the liaison between all the cousins in the family. Send them regular messages about what the others are doing.
Together you can create family songs that include everyone's name. You can take turn adding verses by e-mail. Send pictures of your family, ancestors and relatives that the others might not have seen. Add captions to explain who the people in the pictures are. Present congratulatory e-cards for accomplishments, large and small - like a child losing her first tooth, making a speech at school, completing a project. Exchange coded or scrambled letter messages with youngsters.
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