The latter portion of this year has been interesting and full of changes. My great-grandmother, the glue of my family, passed two days after Thanksgiving, it was difficult completely my final assignments for courses, and I was tired of life particularly work. As a Scrooge, I have an extreme dislike about Christmas. I do not like spending money and as I told my momma, Jesus was the only person to receive gifts on the day of his birth, so how did it extend to buying gifts for everyone? Of course, she laughed without first warning me not to say such things, but I know deep down inside–I am right.

With this being the first Christmas without my great-grandmother, I wanted my gift to my Nana to be special. As a historian, I always prided myself on the family trees that I have constructed; however, I was always disappointed in my lack of knowledge in my own family’s history. It has always been on my to-do list so I decided to compile my family’s history. With a few drinks and my notebook, I began. Then it exploded.

(Fresh pedicure too–it was my first.)

I was able to go back to 1852, yet found no other records. African American genealogy has it ups and downs. In the end, I learned more about my family than I ever imagined.

Oh and here is the final product.

My Nana loved it, although it took her a moment to figure it out.  Many of my relatives cherished this tree as well and now I have my hands full with researching their family lines until the spring semester begins.

By the way, I finished with a 4.0.

Until the next post my friends,

Christina