Saturday, November 25, 2006

All I Want for Christmas

My wife asked me today "what do you want for Christmas, dear?"

My response was noncommittal, since I knew she wouldn't understand...

"Dear Santa:

"Don't bring me new tools, or shirts and ties.
Genealogists have peculiar wishes.
For Christmas I just want a surname.
A new sweatshirt would be great,
But it's not the desire of my life.

"I've just found an ancestor's birth date;
What I need now is the name of his wife.
My heart doesn't yearn for an iPod
or a large screen LCD TV.
What I want is a much cheaper thing;

"Please give me Mary's last name.
To see my heart singing with joy,
Don't bring me a red leather suitcase,
Bring me a genealogist's toy;
a surname with dates and a place."

(found in Illinois State Genealogical Society newsletter 1984, modified a bit by myself)

I've already given myself some Christmas gifts - a laptop computer (it's officially "ours"), a wireless router and a year's Ancestry subscription. I couldn't wait - I've even opened them and used them!

What about you - what gift do you want from the Genealogy Santa for Christmas?

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

The patience to keep searching

Rita