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Family History For the Holidays

© Deanna Corbeil

Thanksgiving is over, and soon, another Christmas (or Hanukkah or Kwanzaa) holiday season will be upon us. Whether you have been diligently working on your family history, or even if it’s been pushed off into the pile of “do it later” tasks, you can make your interest in genealogy part of your celebrations. Spending time with family is what makes the holidays special to so many of us, and since family is what genealogy is all about, why not try to make your past part of your presents (pun intended) for your family members? Following are some ways you can incorporate your genealogical passion into the holiday season.

• Tradition Journals Record in a small notebook the different traditions that you and your family keep. Do you attend church each Christmas Eve? Is there a special meal you share each year? Write these things down in the journal. You can include other events during the year as well, like birthdays, other holidays, etc. Each year, make an entry about those particular things you and your family do. You could make a copy of your journal and give it to other family members so that they can share in the memories.
• Genealogy Gift-Giving Ask any family history buff what they want for Christmas, and chances are, one of their requests will have something to do with their hobby. So whether you’re asking for yourself, or if someone else you know is also climbing the family tree, here are some gift ideas sure to please.

1. A new laptop with a portable scanner. (OK. This might seem like a rather large gift, but wouldn’t it be nice to take this with you to the library instead of boxes of heavy files and notebooks?)
2. How about a pre-paid subscription to an online genealogy database like Ancestry.com?
3. Find out if any particular books would be useful. This could include a general reference book, or something more specific, like a community history.
4. Something as mundane as paper, file folders, a new file cabinet or notebooks are very useful and usually needed.
5. A gift of membership dues to a family or community genealogy society might be on someone’s list.
6. Why not volunteer to watch the children or run some errands so that your favorite genealogy buff can spend some extra time at the family history library or in organizing records? This gift might be appreciated most of all!

Check out this Holiday Gift List for Genealogists.

The copyright of the article Family History For the Holidays in Family Historians is owned by Deanna Corbeil. Permission to republish Family History For the Holidays in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.