Christmas Newsletters - Trash or Treasure?

As we will be overseas before Christmas I am thinking of what I can do so that when I return, on December 23rd, I will be prepared for the Yuletide festivities. I write an annual Christmas letter (never more than one A4 page) so I can make a start on that. Elderly aunts and old neighbours tell me that they enjoy reading it each year

I just spotted this post in an online forum "Does anybody get those annoying Christmas letters EVERY YEAR EVERY DETAIL of the families history???...I dont even read them anymore I just trash them."


Trash them? As the writer unwittingly said they contain details of a family's history.They are precious resources for future generations Sure people brag about how clever their kids are but they also convey news of hatches, matches and dispatches and other family milestones. There is no way I would trash these epistles that give a potted (but often skewed towards the positive) history of a family's events during that year.


For those newsletters that come from  family I record the details of births, deaths and marriages that I glean from them in my genealogy database. I then file them in my family history files in the author's file. I have  over ten years of newsletters from one cousin's family that when read sequentially tell a beautiful story, warts and all. She is not into genealogy but one day her descendants may be; there may be nowhere else that this story is recorded for these youngsters. I am pleased that I can curate this collection for the future.

Do you send out a Christmas letter? Do you enjoy reading them? Are they trash or treasure?

Remembering....

these people from my tree who passed away on September 11.

	Last Name, Given Name(s)	Died		Person ID	Tree
1	Cupitt Eleanor	11 Sep 1896	Mittagong, NSW, Australia	I8204	Geniaus Family Tree
2	Haggie Florence Mary	11 Sep 1938	Westoe Village, South Shields, Durham, England	I5200	Geniaus Family Tree
3	Falk John Andrew Rodgers	11 Sep 1958	Dunedoo, NSW, Australia	I4150	Geniaus Family Tree
4	Gowans Isabella Purves	11 Sep 1994	Gosford Hospital, Gosford, NSW, Australia	I230	Geniaus Family Tree

Getting kitted up for Rootstech

As a newbie (and a foreigner) at Rootstech last year I was not aware of the need to have a swag of
geneabloggers's accessories. I was rather proud of the snazzy new business cards I had along with me but these paled into insignificance when I saw the array of accessories that other geneabloggers had brought along.

I'm like a schoolkid who has to have the right pencil case and the right pencils (in my day Derwents) to be part of the in crowd. Well, this poor old Granny from downunder failed dismally in the accessories race at Rootstech 2011.


Believing that it is more blessed to give than receive I felt inadequate when Thomas MacEntee adorned my person with a couple of strings of shiny red hearts and a geneabloggers ribbon, then he gave me a genealogist's baseball card and a precious Keep Calm and Cite Your Sources badge. Kerry Scott's business card was much snappier then mine. Even Joan Miller, who hails from that other British colony, Canada, had  blog ribbons to hand out.

My cupboard was bare in 2011 but I won't be making the same mistake again. I am hoping to source some Aussie kitsch to share with my GeniMates at Rootstech 2012.

If you are intending to attend Rootstech 2012 and are a firstime genealogy conference goer you had better start gathering your geegaws or you will stand out like a sore thumb.

He's not a genie yet!

Thanks to information shared by Dear Myrtle and Amy Coffin  I was able to register my husband at the bargain basement price of $US99 for the 2012 Rootstech Conference. This is only available till tomorrow - details are at Amy's blog.

Mr Geniaus is not a genealogist by any stretch of the imagination but he is interested in the results of my research and his family history. He spent five years (and a few pennies) on finding a grandfather clock made by his ancestor, James Gowans, and having it shipped to Australia. He has travelled with me to England and Scotland to visit ancestral towns and villages; he had a tear in his eye as we sailed away from Islay in Scotland, the home of his Gillespie ancestors. He has tramped through cemeteries in fresh English Januarys to find and photograph tombstones.

I won't even touch on Mr Geniaus' technology skills - but he has mastered his Blackberry!

I don't think I will turn Mr Geniaus into a genealogist so why am I taking him to a genealogy conference?

• He will be with me in Salt Lake City (a city we have visited before) and will be at a loose end
• The cost of registration is dirt cheap compared with the hundreds of dollars he has paid to go to corporate conferences (with his Scots' ancestry he loves a bargain)
• He will be able to register for conference lunches (so I don't have to worry about feeding him)
• He will be able to meet the GeniMates with whom I spend so much time virtually
• He will see that genealogists aren't a bunch of old fuddy-duddys
• With such a broad and varied program he will be able to find sessions that pique his interest
• Most importantly he will be able to share in the buzz and excitement of a superbly organised conference and gain an understanding of why I just had to return to Rootstech in 2012

He doesn't know it yet but he will be acting as my roadie/personal assistant/one-man support team. As an Official Blogger and presenter at the conference I will be hopping. Mr Geniaus will be put to work as my messenger, blog post editor (my keyboarding skills are punk), bag carrier and photographer. He will be charged with taking lots of photos of the exhibition area, of the sessions he attends and of yours truly mingling. 

He'll have a Ball.