1. Set it up in their name
Create the account for your parent, with an email they can use. It starts with a 30-day free trial and no card. The 30 days begin when you create it, so do that close to the day you hand it over.
A Christmas gift for parents
For parents who have everything, give them a good question.
A good Christmas gift for parents who have everything asks them for something instead of adding to the pile. MyLifeMemoir gives them Rosie, an AI interviewer who asks about their life out loud, and turns what they say into a written, illustrated book the whole family keeps.
Why another object falls flat
Many parents spend the later part of their lives trying to own less. They have the sweater, the kitchen gadget and the framed photo. They have told you, more than once, not to buy them anything. So the box under the tree becomes one more thing to find a place for, and everyone knows it.
What most of them have never been given is someone’s full attention for as long as they want to talk about their own life. Not the stories everyone has heard at every holiday, but the ones that come out when someone asks a second question: where the family name came from, how the first job really went, what their own parents were like at forty.
That is the gift. The book is what it leaves behind.
What you are actually giving
MyLifeMemoir is a membership in your parent’s name. Rosie, an AI interviewer, reads one question at a time aloud, in large type. Your parent answers by talking, the way they would across the kitchen table. Rosie then asks about something they just mentioned, which is where the stories nobody has heard tend to start.
Their spoken answers become text, arranged into chapters across twelve parts of a life, from childhood to the lessons they want passed on. They read every word before it goes in and can change any of it. Their own photographs sit beside the stories. The finished book downloads as a PDF whenever they like.
The family reads along through a private link the storyteller creates and can revoke. Brothers, sisters and grandchildren can add their own photographs and memories, and each one waits for your parent’s approval before it appears.
How to give it on the day
There is nothing to ship. The whole gift fits in an envelope and an hour.
2. Print a card to open
Print the MyLifeMemoir gift card, fold it, and write your own message inside. A parent opening an envelope is a much warmer start than an email with a login in it.
3. Do the first question together
After the presents, sit beside them with a tablet or laptop and let Rosie ask the first question. Ten minutes is plenty for a first visit.
When the free month ends, whoever adds a card pays $159 for the year, and the membership renews each year until it is cancelled. If the gift is from you, sit down with them and add yours. The account gets an email reminder before the trial ends. Full pricing and renewal terms are here.
Thanksgiving is a good time to start
Thanksgiving falls on Thursday, November 26 this year, and for many families it is the one day everyone is in the same house without a schedule. That makes it a natural moment to sit with a parent for the first question, while the coffee is still out and the stories are already starting.
There is a practical reason too. A trial started on Thanksgiving runs out around Christmas, which turns the second half of the gift into the Christmas part: you add your card, and the membership becomes theirs for the year. By then they will have answered a few questions on their own, and you will already have something to read.
If your family does its gathering later in December, start then. The first question works the same way whenever you ask it.
What to say when you hand it over
How it is introduced matters more than anything else on this page. Lead with something you actually want to know, not with the software. “I realised I don’t know how you two met” is an invitation. “I got you a memoir subscription” sounds like an assignment.
Keep it light. Start with childhood, not legacy. Let them skip questions and come back to them. And make it clear the account is theirs: they decide what goes in and who reads it. The full guide to giving it covers the details, including what to do if a parent is not comfortable with technology.
Want to hear Rosie before you give it?
You can answer one question with Rosie yourself, free and without an account. Try it first.
About a printed book
This year’s gift is the conversation, and the PDF of the book is included from the first chapter. A professionally printed and bound copy is an optional purchase later on, once there is a book worth printing. See what it costs.
For grandparents, Hanukkah and other holidays
Everything here works the same for a grandparent, and for Hanukkah, a birthday or any day the family is together. Why a memoir makes a meaningful gift covers the other occasions.
Questions people ask before Christmas
Is Rosie a real person?
No. Rosie is an AI interviewer. She reads the questions aloud, listens to the answer, and asks about what your parent said. Nothing goes into the book until they have read it.
Does it cost anything to set up?
No. The first 30 days are free and no card is asked for. After that it is $159 a year, renewing until cancelled. Pricing details.
Can my brothers and sisters give it with me?
Yes. One card pays for the membership, so most families agree who adds it and settle up among themselves. Everyone can then be invited to add photographs and memories.
What if both parents want to tell their stories?
A membership covers one storyteller’s book, because two lives are two books. Many families start with one parent, and the other contributes memories to it.
What happens to their stories?
They stay private until your parent shares them. We never train AI on your stories, and we never sell them. Read the privacy page.
Keep reading
This Christmas, ask them about their life.
Hear the first question yourself, or set it up in their name today.
One question with Rosie. No account needed.
$159 a year after a 30-day free trial. No credit card to start.