Designing Your Family Crest

LUCY BURDETTE: When my brother's only son was getting married about five years ago, we wanted to do something "special" at his reception, but we were pretty sure a rap song (which had been created and performed at a wedding years earlier) would not be welcome. The idea of presenting an Isleib family crest to my nephew's new bride took shape. But what to put on it? My family loves, loves, loves to eat. In fact, one year when my husband asked what sporting equipment he needed to bring for an Isleib family reunion, my cousin Steve famously told him: "All you need is a knife and fork." Gradually that notion has taken firm root and my hub tells people that Isleib can be translated from the German to mean "Large lunch followed by a restful nap."

Besides eating and sleeping, we are all pet crazy in my family. So we suggested the quartet of napping, eating, love of family, and love of animals to another of my talented nephews, Zack Isleib. He drew up the crest, including the "large lunch followed by a restful nap" slogan, translated by Google into German. I had the design printed on t-shirts that resurface at all family gatherings. Isn't it adorable??

Supposing you had an artist to draw it for you, what would you put in the four quadrants of your family's crest?

HALLIE EPHRON: What a great idea!

Let's see, my family crest would be...
A book in one quadrant (we read, write, and collect them)
Definitely  the crossed fork and knife in another, no explanation needed.Maybe the silhouette of the Brooklyn Bridge in the third (our ancestry is to Russia by way of Brooklyn)
And finally the distinctive silhouette of a Motmot, Jerry and I are birders, and that's the most beautiful bird we've ever seen, and "mot" is French for "word."

LUCY: And oh boy, Hallie, could Jerry do a great job drawing your crest!

ROSEMARY HARRIS: Hmmmm, I may be related to Hallie. A book, a bagel and a boarding pass - and in the center a big sloppy golden retriever over a silhouette of the Brooklyn Bridge! (Bruce is also Russian by way of Brooklyn!)

JAN BROGAN: Books in the first quadrant, definitely, we are all big readers;  And since we're very active in our family, lots of sports and exercise, you'd have to put a marathoner or a tennis player or basketball player in the second quadrant: We also all either sing or play guitar or both, so I'd say a guitar goes in the third quadrant; And I'm going to say the silhouette of Martha's Vineyard, mostly because I'm running out of other ideas, but also because we have a house there that serves as a refuge. 

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: Well, what a wonderful thing to think about!
Books certainly, perhaps even something that indicates "way too many books what will we do with them all?"
and then maybe....the scales of justice? Jonathan and I are both devoted to making things right.
A reporter's notebook.
And...a rose. We love our flower garden. And we know to stop and smell the roses.

RHYS BOWEN: Well, we actually have a family crest, and a family motto Inter Utrumque tene--which I'm sure you can all instantly translate as 'steer a middle course'. Wise but a little boring. So if I designed my own crest it might have a plane or a boarding pass like Rosemary, because we love to travel, and the silhouette of Mount Tamalpais that I can see from my window every day, maybe a cactus because we love winter in the desert and I love to hike with my friends. A music clef as all my family is musical (two are professional, my grandfather was a conductor) and we all love to sing, and I like to paint,so maybe a paintbrush. That's more than four, isn't it? And since I fully intend to be made a dame or a baroness, I shall give this matter serious thought!

LUCY: That's so cool that you HAVE a family crest Rhys! And we all want to be invited to the installation...

DEBORAH CROMBIE: Hmmm. A book, for certain.  My daughter and I are now the core of the family, and we love to read. And travel, so add the boarding pass. And eat and cook, so a knife and fork over a pot? And a glass of wine in the forth quadrant, because we think food and wine should go together. But how to get England in there? Maybe splat Big Ben smack in the middle, and do everything on a field of green.

LUCY: Your turn, dear Jungle Red friends: What would go into your crest?