November 08, 2002 ~ Getting Ready for the Holidays ~Bill Hocutt

I don't know about Yall but I got the shock of my life a couple of days ago. I opened the door and a fireman, a ghost and a fairy princess yelled "Trick or Treat" at me.

Now I know what that really means. It means the countdown is on till the big family holidays. It means the time has come to get ready for in-laws and outlaws to descend on the old homestead to devour tons of turkey, ham and other assorted goodies and watch football until daybreak. It means it's time to make sure I have all my genealogical ducks in a row so that I can turn this invasion of broke brothers-in-law, crazy uncles and get rich quick cousins into a breakthrough on my research.

The first thing you need to do, (I mean after you put up all the breakables), is make a list of everyone that will be attending this get together. Then pull together all the information you have on each person and try to figure out what information that you need. The way that I have found that ensures you that you maximize your information on each person is to print a family sheet and a 4 level tree for each guest. If you have them in your database include photo's of the guests and their children on your family sheet. The inclusion of photos will "wow" your guests and inspire them to share more information with you.

At the very least you should be able to get the following list of important data from them:

1) Birth Date (good luck with your female relatives on getting this)
2) Graduation Date (High School and College)
3) Marriage Date
4) Spouse's Full name (and all their vital data)
5) Military Service (if any)
6) Children's full name (and all their vital data)
7) Titles or nicknames

If you own a scanner, ask your visiting relatives to make sure they bring photos of their kids and any other family photos they don't mind showing off. Tell them all you want to do is scan them for a family scrapbook (Hint that it's for a possible Christmas gift). Make sure you have lots of film for a conventional camera, even if you do have a digital camera. It's my firm belief that you should always take "real" photos as well as digital photos. That way you are covered. When you take the photos keep a list of who appeared in each photo, you do this so that you don't have to try and figure out who is who when you get them developed.

If your family is like mine, at Thanksgiving Yall discuss the family Christmas plans and exchange names for gifts. Drop hints that all you really want for Christmas is "COPIES" of any old family photos.

Remember the reason for the season is Family, but don't overlook an excellent chance to improve your family tree. Next week I will be running my traditional Thanksgiving column which is "Aunt Mabel's Recipe for Turkey in a Bag."

Adios and Keep Smiling,
Uncle Hiram