General info

Final Twitter chat – Christmas 2022

Miss W. General info

We began our Twitter chats back in October 2020. Since then we have had 68 different chats some weekly and some monthly. Here is a link to the full list of topics. This week we had our last chat due to the problems occurring on Twitter.

1. What Christmas/ Festive Season traditions, foods, decorations, activities have been passed down in your family? Do you know where they came from?

Mum would always make her own Christmas puddings – enough to give as presents as well as to have throughout the year.

We didn’t have Christmas Pudding Sue, when I was a child. I feel I missed out. I have it now though

we had Xmas pud every year with coins in wrapped up in greaseproof paper. Where are those coins now I wonder???

when I was a child we had Xmas pudding with coins in it and fruit cake. I used to make the Alison Holst pineapple fruit cake for Xmas, may make one when I’ve caught up with everything else.

I don’t know about the Alison Holst cake. I’ll be googling that – here’s our Xmas ham recipe familytreefrog.blogspot.com/2014/12/advent…

My mother always made White Christmas and I make it using her recipe every year. I also make my Irish grandmother’s Christmas Cake and shortbread.

We have very few traditions in our household. If anytime in the year we see something others might like we get it and gift it then so at birthdays and Christmas there are no expectation for presents as we have had some already.

Probably not many really. Although my father is amazing and keeps making puddings every year, bless him. I feel compelled to buy licorice allsorts and nuts for Xmas day nibblies every year.

We always had presents after coming back from morning Christmas Mass – the wait made it all the more exciting! Our family now might not always make it to Mass, but we still make the kids wait LOL

And what about unwrapping the presents Maggie? Is it a mad frenzy or do you all patiently wait while someone opens a present and then move on to the next present.

Christmas cake always made well in advance, rum balls, apricot balls, no presents until after breakfast.

I have an elf made by my cousin decades ago that I used to use when I had a Xmas tree. It sits on a shelf with my few remaining ornaments. I don’t bother much with anything these days.

I’ve only just become aware of the elf on the shelf tradition. I think they look great!

I’ve started some of our own family traditions – we make a gingerbread house every year, and I also make Christmas puddings (using a recipe from an Irish friend’s grandmother)

I went to dad’s house today and he has all the Christmas decorations up. He said mum would have reminded him to do it if she was here

Jennifer I have one daughter who decorates my tree and table every year! I’m not that way inclined

Good daughter. I’d like somebody to come and do mine. I think Christmas decorations are lovely but can’t be bothered doing them

For special occasions including Xmas my mother would make a log cabin roll – oblong bought biscuits with a chocolate mixture in between and smothered over it all. I have made White Christmas when my diet wasn’t as restricted as it is now.

If we had Christmas lunch at my grandparents’ home we had a hot lunch and Christmas Pudding with threepences in. My mother went for ham, cold turkey and salads which is what I do

When we were kids and when Tony was small. Biscuit and milk drink . Carrot for the reindeer.

We also had the hot turkey meal, followed by Christmas pudding with threepences which I guess were inserted on serving. Thin white bread ham sandwiches after midnight Mass to ensure we wouldn’t wake too early!

For Aussies that do not know Alison is a legend cook in NZ. Most houses had her cook books along with the Edmond’s one. alisonspantry.co.nz/category/dame-…

hmmm this chat is great….I shall be playing with recipes for weeks to come. ABC Brisbane has had listeners sharing Xmas recipes all month and there have been some amazing sounding ones. Heavenly hash; marshmallows and mandarins for one. KatherineFeeney on Insta

We mainly have Christmas brunch at my brother and SIL’s place – a 2 minute drive from my house. Participants are now getting older and need to be home for a nap in the afternoon.

we used to use pillow cases for presents – did anyone else? Love the stockings and gingerbread house.

2. Many traditions are not handed down. If you could go back in time and spend Christmas with an ancestor, who and where would you choose and why? Would it be a warm or cold Christmas?

I would love to join my Forfar ancestors for Xmas as they were bakers and I’d love to see their shop and all the things they sold…Westphalian hams for example and Normandy pippings. familytreefrog.blogspot.com/2022/05/52ance…

I would love to spend Christmas with my German g g grandparents. No German traditions were passed on sadly. It would be in the south of Germany in Beutelsbach and be a cold white Christmas

I’d like to spend Christmas Day with my 3x great grandfather in England and also my 2x great grandparents in Wales. So many questions to ask. I’ve had 2 white Christmases so would love another

We both work through Christmas except for Christmas Day. Neither of us have family here so we have lunch with friends and see our family either before Christmas or after New Year

I love wintry Christmases – perfect weather to snuggle up inside and eat and drink and be merry with family and/or friends

I love a cold Christmas!! And the ancestor I would choose would be my Irish great great grandmother, Mary Jane Clarke, in her home in Lewisham, England, surrounded by all her kids.

Christmas with one of my free settler or convict ancestors before they came to Tassie. A cold Christmas but we have had snow falling on Christmas Day here in Tassie a few years in my lifetime.

I wonder what they had for lunch Sue? My convicts were many times reconvicted so mostly prison food in Tasmania, Norfolk island and Moreton bay

I would want to visit so many ancestors on Christmas Day. First thought would be my great grand parents Fanny Monger and William Edmonds that got married on Christmas Day 1854. When you work all week there is only Christmas day left to get married.

The best Christmas present I ever received was a new grandson. He was born just after midnight on Christmas Day. He will be 13 this year.

my son was born on Xmas Eve Jennifer and yes that was the best Xmas present I ever received. We sat up at the Mater together for a couple of days and they even provided an aperitif and nibblies. Very civilized.

My Scottish ancestors would not have celebrated Xmas instead having a dance at Hogmanay. I would do that too, but there has not been a dance where I live for a few years, and it’s too far for me to travel to the closest. I would go to Gairloch for Hogmanay.

It’s got to be my brick wall ancestor, Francis Smith in Scotland. I don’t think it would be a very nice Christmas as he was getting Parish Relief, but it would be in cold Scotland. I just need some answers from him!


3. Tonight is the #ANZAncestryTime chat but let’s stay in touch! Join in a general chat and share where we can find you, what your Christmas plans are and let’s all wish each other a very Merry Christmas/ Festive Season.

Delighted to be able to join you for the last event of the year (and possibly ever?). I want to thank you all for the welcome when I have been able to join you and for your generosity in sharing your knowledge. Nollaig Shona daoibh!

Hi Tara. So lovely to ‘see’ you here. We have really loved getting to know you and thankyou for sharing your wealth of knowledge with us all.

I am hoping it is hot in the Highlands for Christmas ( currently have the heating on) as the children want to swim

we will be having a quiet Xmas at home probably vegging out on the couch watching movies and trying to stay cool. I’ll be browsing in the cookbook I bought myself for Xmas – Cook by Karen Martini. My blog is here familytreefrog.blogspot.com Merry Xmas everyone!

You can find me here still for now, on facebook, instagram, pinterest and that other place…. Blogs are FamilyHistory4u, Family Convictions – A Convict Ancestor, Sharn’s Genealogy Jottings and The Australian House Historian

I think I have everyone’s blogs in my Feedly and have found most of you on the other site too

I’m taking a blogging break until mid January. I’d love you to pop in and visit when I return. Meantime I will be on the usual SMs jonesfamilyhistory.wordpress.com

I have been quite inactive on all of my blogs recently Jennifer. 2023 I plan to get back to blogging

We’re having a big family dinner at my sister’s this year – we’re bringing the turkey (and the Xmas pud). Looking forward to catching up with the whānau and having my nephew to stay afterwards. My (slightly neglected) blog is here: iwikiwi.com

I am on that other site and have found most of you via the Google document. I am still on my blog but also Facebook and the UTAS family history groups on there.

I usually watch the Xmas service and play Xmas carols and hymns on my piano, so before then I have to clear my work from my piano stool (handy flat place for putting my work as it’s beside my desk).

You’ll find me here in the New Year and possibly in future on other platforms, just look for “Frugalone” – that name will travel with me

You can always find me at my blog theancestordigger.blogspot.com or my website chriswright.id.au/up/index.htm and on the new site too! 🙂

You will find me on Facebook as Michelle Wells (and a big cheesy grin picture), on WikiTree as Wells-16368, on Mastodon as @miningthepast@mastodon.scot

You will find me on FaceBook under my other name of Margaret Allison and on WikiTree as Dickson-4413. I might add Mastodon next year.

General info

If you are on one of the Fediverse instances like mastodon, then follow some of the genealogists you can find on this Google document, Remember to add yourself there so others can follow you.

Merry Christmas and Festive Season to all from me (Sue) and thank you all for allowing your voices to be heard on my blog.

wal_172619 / Pixabay

Guiding reunion

Miss W. General info , ,

Back in late May this year, I received a phone call from Jan, my Guide leader from back in the 1960’s. She had been in contact with a couple of other girls who were in the original 4th Glenorchy Girl Guide Company. They were thinking of organizing a reunion and would I like to come?

Now I am not the sort of person who enjoys sitting around and just chatting with people I don’t know or haven’t seen for decades. I am more the wallflower who sits back and listens. But I know mum would have pushed me into attending so ……

I took part in the Messenger group that was created for sharing information, including photos and newspaper articles. Dad and I went through all the guiding photos he had on his computer looking for those relating to 4th Glenorchy Guides. We couldn’t find many but mum had written about building the new Guide Hall at Glenorchy which happened about the same time. Those photos we found, I emailed to Jan to include in her slide show ready for the reunion.

So the date was set as Saturday 12 – 3pm at St Marks Church Hall, Bellerive on 1st October 2022. Everyone was to bring along some food to share as well as photos, log books etc.

I was the only person still wearing a mask but took it off for a couple of minutes while eating. The room wasn’t well ventilated so the mask was back on  when talking to people and reading out the information about the Guide Hall.

I did enjoy the afternoon, checking out the log book that had been kept by another Sue, the lieutenant of the Guide Company. Also looking at the camp blankets and chatting family history, of course, with some of the other participants. Like I normally do, I took a few photos.

Readers: Have you ever been to a school or Guiding/Scouting reunion? How did you feel?

Radio interview

Miss W. General info ,
AndrzejRembowski / Pixabay

A few weeks ago, I was asked by a librarian at Rosny Library if I would be prepared to be interviewed on ABC Radio. After a bit of thought, I said yes. Topic was volunteering at Rosny Library as a family historian. I prepared a few notes about my journey as a family historian including completing the Diploma of Family History at UTAS in 2017. Then some notes about what I do as a volunteer at Rosny mentioning the hour long one-on-one appointments and this year, the workshops on specific topics about family history.

Contact was made with the co-ordinator of the ABC program, she asked me some questions to which I answered and then she said instead of a short interview on breakfast radio, it would be better for a longer interview on evening radio. This was a great idea as I am certainly not a morning person.

So last night, Monday 4 July, the time arrived. A different co-ordinator rang me and mentioned as the programme was more than just Tasmania based, they wouldn’t be asking so much about my volunteering at Rosny but more about my journey and personal research of my own family history.

I think the interview went well. It was about 15 minutes long on Evenings radio with Christopher Lawrence. If I get permission I will add a link to the interview here so others can listen to me rambling on about my family history.

UPDATE: The interview starts at 2 hrs 18 minutes in on this link at the ABC Radio website.

UPDATE on UPDATE: The link to the interview has now expired. I have contacted archivists at ABC to see if I can get an audio file to add to this post.

Readers: Have you ever been interviewed on radio or TV or an oral history research program?