Happy 188th Birthday, John Cottam Junior (1823-1903)!

Anna Cottam Hatch Cramer's grandfather


A British pioneer who loved Queen Victoria and Brother Brigham!

Happy 44th Anniversary!

December 7, 1967

all because two people fell in love...

70th Anniversary of Pearl Harbor

GFW

Wally

Both of my grandfathers are World War II vets who served in the Army.  We honor them today!

Pearl Harbor 2007

Happy 203rd Birthday, Ellis Mendenhall Sanders (1808-1873)!

Gawain's great-great-grandfather

A prosperous and contradictorily irascible Quaker, Ellis Sanders gave up a comfortable life to become a pioneer in St. George. I stayed in his Nauvoo home last year!  

Merry Ancestors!

In honor of the season, consider incorporating family history into your holiday celebrations--remembering ancestors' Christmas traditions, baking Grandma's classic treats, and giving personalized gifts such as family histories and photo calendars.

Some have decorated family history themed trees or wreaths: see here, for example.  I have a plan to do that someday: create a Christmas tree with ancestral photo ornaments.

Here's a version of "O Christmas Tree" to sing:

O family tree, o family tree,

How lovely (twisted, nutty, crazy, funny, hidden, obscure, tangled) are thy branches

Echoing through mists of time,

People, places that are mine

O family tree, o family tree

How lovely are thy branches.

(thanks to my oldest daughter for poetic help)

Enjoy celebrating family and memories, love and laughter together, while remembering the Holy Family who first brought Christmas to the world!