Will you be hosting Thanksgiving dinner at your house this year? If not, then you will be among the millions of Americans who will be traveling this week in order to eat Thanksgiving dinner at Grandmother’s house, (or the house of another relative). How we travel, and the cost of a typical Thanksgiving dinner, has changed over the years. When I was a little kid, there wasn’t a specific Thanksgiving dinner tradition. If my mother decided to cook Thanksgiving dinner, than we would have it at home. My grandmother, (my father’s mother), lived with us, which made it easy to … Continue reading →

Many of us look forward to the holiday season because there are many opportunities to spend time with family. Of course, when families make plans to gather there is the potential for conflict. Whether there is a history of tension between certain family members or not, planning a gathering for a group can bring out both the best and the worst in people. Here are a few tips for handling holiday scheduling headaches if they do arise. Many holiday conflicts occur before the date of the actual family gathering, as family units have to make scheduling decisions about which relatives … Continue reading →

Thanksgiving is a holiday that usually includes celebrations in the form of whatever traditions your family has established. Over time, families change, and this can cause conflict about how and where to spend Thanksgiving. Here is some advice that you can use to help survive another Thanksgiving holiday with your relatives. There are some Thanksgiving traditions that most people who celebrate this holiday choose to do every year. People gather together with as many family members as possible, and spend time with each other. One can expect that dinner will include a turkey, some stuffing, lots of vegetables, and maybe … Continue reading →

Lately, I’ve been hearing a lot about “Pox Parties”. The purpose of these parties is to expose a healthy child to the virus we call “chicken pox”, in order to avoid having to give the child a vaccination against this disease. It made me think about what “pox” used to refer to, and other older names for diseases. Names of diseases, medical tools and terminology, are words and phrases that get changed over time. Every so often, a disease is renamed to something more accurate, based on newly discovered knowledge about the disease. Or, medical terms or conditions get a … Continue reading →

For many genealogists, Halloween is a very enjoyable time of year. It just makes sense for people who love finding out about people and things from the past to savor a time of year when history is often brought to life through ghost tours and other haunted happenings that are based upon historical events. Today, I decided to see what events are happening this year around where I live. My family is not from around here, but some families that I know have lived in Vermont for many generations so some of these events and places are things that people … Continue reading →

Some parts of your family tree are easy to figure out. Most genealogists can fill in the blanks for their parents and siblings without having to think much about it. Things get a bit more complex when you try and sort out how you are related to your great-aunts. I recently attended my sister’s wedding. As expected, there were plenty of relatives that came to the wedding. It has been a long time since I had seen or talked to many of them, so it was really nice to have the opportunity to catch up. Even though I haven’t been … Continue reading →

Weddings are special. This is one occasion where you can expect to see plenty of relatives. For genealogists, weddings are an opportunity to figure out the proper kinship terms for complex family relationships. How do all of these people relate to you? Less than a week ago, my sister, Mary, got married. She had a beautiful, somewhat traditional, ceremony, and I have never seen her happier. I hope that the happiness that she experienced on her wedding day continues to grow with every year of her marriage. Each couple will put together a wedding that is uniquely special to them. … Continue reading →

Debenhams says that a woman’s ability (or inability) to walk well in high heels is something that is passed down to her from her mother. It seems that mothers and daughters also tend to prefer the same heel height and the style of the heels they choose. I’m not sure if this is more about genetics or environment. Debenhams is one of the largest department stores groups in the UK. They have a total of 167 stores in the UK, the Republic of Ireland, and Denmark, and are in a total of 24 countries. They sell clothing for women, men, … Continue reading →

Do you use Facebook to talk to your family members? Are you sure it really is your sister that you are chatting with? You could be speaking with a scammer, who has hacked your sister’s account, and is now impersonating her. Beware if a relative on Facebook asks you for money! Facebook is an excellent resource for genealogists. It is a social networking system that has been made extremely easy to use. This makes people who are not computer savvy a bit more comfortable with the idea of going online. Genealogists who live far away from some of the members … Continue reading →

I realize that it is not even October yet, but the colorful leaves on the trees and the abundance of pumpkins at roadside vegetable stands has me thinking about Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving celebrations are a big thing for many families, and the ways that people celebrate are varied indeed. From a traditional home made turkey dinner with all of the fixings to elaborate buffets in fine restaurants, Americans sure do like to go all out for Thanksgiving. One tradition in my family happens even before Thanksgiving. That tradition is the great debate over the location of the Thanksgiving feast. On Thanksgiving, … Continue reading →