Searching for the perfect present for your children, one that won't get shoved in a closet or cost a fortune? Hoping to engage your children in activities other than video games and television over their winter break? Look no further than those piles of shoe boxes bursting with old photographs. This holiday season give kids the gift that they will treasure for a lifetime -- a family history.

"Family history is about stories, not necessarily who married whom and all the way back," says Maureen Taylor, noted genealogist and author of a guide to family history for kids, "Through the Eyes of Your Ancestors."

"Families today are pretty disconnected," says Taylor. "It is important for kids to have that sense of connectedness to everyone else, at a point where many kids and teenagers are feeling quite alienated. It is important for kids to know where they fit in."