Thanksgiving family photo memories: restore the old album and share it at the table

Why old photos belong at Thanksgiving

Every family table has a history: the grandmother whose stuffing recipe is still the one, the uncle who always carved, the cousins at the kids' table in 1985 who now have kids of their own. Old photos bring those people back into the room, and they get the stories flowing in a way nothing else does. For families missing someone this year, a photo of them at a past Thanksgiving is a gentle way to include them.

It is also the easiest day to collect photos. The relatives who hold the albums are all there, and someone can sit with a grandparent and a phone after the meal, photographing prints and asking who is in them. If you want ideas for new photos to take on the day as well, see our Thanksgiving photo ideas.

What to restore before the holiday

• Old Thanksgiving and holiday dinners: the table, the turkey, everyone squeezed in.
• The grandparents or great-grandparents who started the family's traditions.
• The house where Thanksgiving used to happen.
• Kids' table photos of today's adults.
• Anyone the family is missing this year.

1. Step 1

   Gather and scan

   Ask relatives to send phone photos of their prints. Our scanning guide covers glare and curled prints.

2. Step 2

   Restore

   Restore old photos removes fading, color casts and scratches, keeping faces exactly as they were.

3. Step 3

   Colorize a few

   Black-and-white family photos in color with colorize old photos are always the ones people pass around.

A moving portrait for the people you miss

If someone who always sat at the table is gone, a gentle moving portrait, where they blink and smile from an old photo, can be a tender way to remember them during grace or a toast. Make it with bring old photos to life, keep the camera still and the motion small, and ask the closest family before showing it. Our guide to animating old photos of loved ones explains how to do it with care.

Each 5-second clip uses 70 credits. New accounts get 140 free credits with no card, enough for two clips or several restored photos.

Ways to share them on the day

• A slow slideshow on the TV during dessert, restored photos mixed with this year's.
• A “then and now” moment: recreate an old photo with the same people in the same spots.
• Printed restored photos as place cards, each guest's own childhood photo at their seat.
• The family group chat: one restored photo every morning in Thanksgiving week.
• A guessing game for the kids: who is this baby?

Capture the stories too

The photos will start conversations; make sure they don't disappear. Ask the oldest relatives who's in each picture, where it was, and what happened that year, and record it on your phone with their permission. Write names and years into the file names and the captions. Those recordings may become the most precious thing the family owns.

Afterwards, put the restored photos and stories in a shared folder so every branch of the family has them for the next holiday, an anniversary or a memorial slideshow.

Print, frame and keep

Restored photos print well up to about 5×7 inches, and a framed restored photo of a past Thanksgiving makes a perfect host gift. Free results carry a small watermark; any pack removes it from the versions you print, and packs start at $4.99 for 6 videos, with no subscription. For ideas on gifts with old photos, see a photo gift for grandparents.