Wordless Wednesday

Christmas 1967 (Maybe)

As I have noted previously, my father did not identify any of the many, many photographs he took.  So while I have been reveling in the photo bonanza that my sister's niece scanned, I am still trying to identify somewhat accurately the photos therein.

I have gotten much, much better at recognizing the people who appear in the photos, including my mother and father when they were significantly younger (although I still sometimes am not sure if a given photo is of my mother or her mother).  But getting the years right is more difficult, I have discovered.

These photos all seem to be around the same Christmas, although I'm not sure about the chronology.  But what year?  My sister Laurie doesn't appear in any of them, so I am pretty sure it is not 1968.  But is it 1967?  I would be about 5 1/2, my brother Mark 4 1/2, and my sister Stacy 3 1/2.  Or is it 1969, and we're all two years older?  I appreciate any insight into our ages and if the order looks right.  And I don't know who two of the people are!  I don't think the little girl toward the end is Stacy, because she's not wearing glasses, but I have no idea who she could be.  And the woman in the next to last photo is a mystery to me.  I think the last photo is our Aunt Sam.

Any feedback is greatly appreciated!

Wordless Wednesday

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun: Your 2024 Christmas Genea-Gifts

Since it's the Saturday right after Christmas, it's kind of natural to expect Randy Seaver to ask us to talk about our genealogy Christmas presents for tonight's Saturday Night Genealogy Fun.

Come on, everybody, join in and accept the mission and execute it with precision.

1.  Was Genea-Santa good to you?  What genealogy gifts did you receive for Christmas this year?

2.  Tell us about them in your own blog post, in a comment on this post, or in a Facebook Status  post.  Please leave a link on this post if you write your own post.

Well, I didn't get the one thing I asked Santa for, but I know it's going to be really difficult, so I didn't expect it so soon anyway.  But I did get something very cool!

A new (to me) cousin found me through my blog, and she has been sharing photographs like crazy!

She's a cousin on my Armstrong line, which I don't know as much about.  I've only been in contact with one person who is also researching my family.  So this was a total surprise.

My great-grandmother Laura May Armstrong had a brother and a sister.  The previous researcher is researching the sister, Rachel Anna Armstrong.  This person is researching the brother, Stacy Biddle Armstrong:  all-new information!

Along with lots of photos and great information about Stacy and his family, my newfound cousin even has photos of some relatives I know.

For example, here's a school photo of my Aunt Carol, from the 1st or 2nd grade (which Carol isn't sure she has a copy of):

And here's a photo of my grandfather from 1970 that's new to me:

The baby in the photo is the cousin who contacted me.

Apparently my grandfather used to visit this cousin and her family up in New Jersey kind of regularly.  Even though my family was living near him during some of this time, he never mentioned he was visiting relatives (fink!).

Here's a photo of my great-granduncle Stacy Armstrong and his wife Lydia:

So many photographs!  We're playing the matching game with a lot of them, recognizing a person in one photo and then in another.  Only a few of the photos are labeled (of course!), so we're focusing on those names and faces and piecing things together.

Thanks for the great Christmas present, Genea-Santa!

Family Christmas in Florida

These are photos from the bonanza that my sister sent me a year ago.  (Wow!  Has it really been that long already?)  I'm not sure about the year.  Based on the apparent age of my youngest cousin in the photos, I was guessing about 1998, but her grandmother thinks it was 1994 or 1995.  I'm actually leaning toward at least 1996, based on other information.

This was at my father's house in Mary Esther, Florida.  I don't know if the family get-together was actually on Christmas, but it seems to have been around that time, so close enough.

The Christmas tree, in all its glory

I didn't know my father had a train set-up

My father, Lynn, and my stepmother, Ginny

Aunt Dottie, someone behind her we can't see,
a woman I don't know, and my cousin Pattie

Ginny and Pattie

My cousins Patricia (Stacey's daughter) and Stacey (Pattie's daughter)

Pattie and Dottie

Four generations:
Stacey, Patricia, Dottie, Pattie

And now with Pattie facing the camera!

The feast table before the feast
(I can't seem to find a photo of the table laden with food, though)

j

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun: Your 2024 "Dear Genea-Santa" Letter

It's almost Christmas, so it must be time to write to Santa for Randy Seaver's Satuday Night Genealogy Fun!

Come on, everybody, join in and accept the mission and execute it with precision.  Here's your chance to sit on Genea-Santa's lap (virtually) and tell him your Christmas genealogy-oriented wish list:

1.  Write your 2024 Genea-Santa letter.  Have you been a good genealogy girl or boy?  What genealogy-oriented items are on your Christmas wish list?  They could be family history items, technology items, or things that you want to pursue in your ancestral quest.

2.  Tell us about them in your own blog post, in a comment on this post, or in a Facebook Status  post.  Please leave a link on this post if you write your own post.

As usual, I've been a pretty good genealogy girl:  still doing lots of volunteer work, writing more this year than I have for the previous two years (combined!), trying to stay in touch with most of the relatives I've connected with over the years and share information with them, reaching out to more relatives when I have the opportunity.

After looking over the past several Dear Genea-Santa letters I've written, I noticed I've kind of been stuck in a rut, but it's an important rut, and so I think I'll make the same request I've made since 2018:  I want to find my Aunt Dottie's son whom she gave up for adoption.

To recap:

• My aunt Dorothy ("Dottie") Mae Sellers had a son who was born September 23, 1945.  She named him Raymond Lawrence Sellers and surrendered him for adoption soon after he was born.  I don't know what name he was given or anything else that happened to him after adoption.

• Dottie's DNA is on Family Tree DNA, MyHeritage, and GEDMatch.  I couldn't get her on Ancestry or 23andMe because those are spit tests, Dottie couldn't manufacture enough for the tests, and neither allows you to transfer your raw data from another site.

• Raymond's siblings, and I, are represented on Ancestry and 23andMe. So we have the DNA bases covered.

• I did what I could with state research, but Raymond was born and adopted in New Jersey, which sealed adoption records from 1941 on.  A search through birth indices did not point anywhere helpful.

• Dottie registered with New Jersey as being willing to accept contact if Raymond chose to look for her.

Dottie passed away in 2021.  I still don't know what would happen if Raymond did try to contact her through the New Jersey state office now, as I have not contacted that office to find out.  I need to learn if an alternative contact person (such as my cousin, who is Dottie's daughter and Raymond's sister) can be named or if the parent is the only person the state will accept (I'm pretty sure the latter is what they will say, because they're just not a friendly state to work with).  Raymond's siblings would very much like to find him and connect with him, especially now that Dottie is gone.

That really leaves only the DNA databases as a way to find Raymond.  But if he died young or if he and any children he might have had have never tested, we won't be able to find him.

As I mentioned, Dottie's DNA is in three databases.  I have found it interesting that I have only ever found a grand total of one person who matches her, who is definitely not Raymond.  If I were paranoid, I might think of that as a deliberate obstruction someone has thrown in my path to dissuade me.  But I'm not that paranoid, and I'm just thinking that Raymond either didn't survive to adulthood or is totally uninterested in DNA testing.  Even though Dottie had long, long roots in New Jersey through her mother, and she really should be matching probably several people, not just one.  But nope, I'm not being paranoid.

One wrinkle that occurred in 2023 is that a little bird whispered in my ear that someone STRONGLY resembled one of Dottie's children and knew he was adopted, and maybe that man could have been Raymond Lawrence Sellers (all this past tense because the man in question is deceased).  But the man was older by a few years than Raymond was supposed to be, and a couple of other pieces didn't quite fit.  While I would love to make the facts that we know about Raymond fit this other man, that's not the right way to solve questions.  I'm now inclined to believe that this mysterious adopted man was related to Dottie's other child through that child's paternal side.  I should be able to find photos of people in that family to compare.  Resolving this question likely will not help get us any closer to finding Raymond Lawrence Sellers, but it probably will eliminate this man from consideration.

Well, hope springs eternal.  C'mon, Genea-Santa.  Throw me a bone.

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun: Holiday Celebrations and Memories

I'm combining last week's and this week's Saturday Night Genealogy Fun from Randy Seaver into one post because I don't have a lot of memories to write about.  Maybe my brother and sisters will remember more and add to this or correct me.

Come on, everybody, join in and accept the mission and execute it with precision. 

1.  Today's challenge is to share memories of December holiday gatherings and celebrations with your families (as a child, a young adult, a parent, a grandparent, a great-grandparent, an aunt or uncle, a nibling, a cousin, an in-law)!

2.  Pick two or three questions from the list in my blog post:  Ask AI:  "What questions can I write about concerning family gatherings and celebrations during the December holidays?"

3.  Tell us about your memories of your holiday gatherings and celebrations in your own blog post, in a comment here, or on your Facebook page.  Be sure to leave a link to your report in a comment on this post.

Except for the addition of having the questions created by AI this year, this is a traditional holiday post by Randy, and my problem every year is that I just don't remember that much.  Let's see what I can come up with via the new questions prompting me.  I'm sticking to Christmas memories from when I was a child living at home with my parents.

• Who traditionally hosted celebrations in your family, and why?
Growing up, I only remember celebrating Christmas at home with my parents.  If we went anywhere else, I can't recall it.  As for why, I don't know.  We didn't have a lot of money, so we probably couldn't afford to travel anywhere.

• Did family members travel far to attend?
I don't remember any family members traveling to celebrate Christmas with us.  I think my half-sister and her mother may have celebrated Christmas with us one year, but that would have been the year they were living with us, so they didn't have to travel.

• What did the space feel like during the holidays—sights, sounds, and smells?
We always had a Christmas tree, which my mother called the Chanukah bush.  I only remember it being fake; I don't recall ever having a real tree.  My mother displayed her menorah; I think she may have lit candles sometimes, but that was all she did to acknowledge Chanukah.  The house had decorations, including one of those elves which is now called Elf on the Shelf (although it was just an elf way back then).  And my mother displayed all the cards we received, including Chanukah cards from her side of the family.

• Were nonfamily members invited to join your celebrations?
The only nonfamily guests I remember at any of our Christmas Day meals are my "Aunt" Sam (my mother's best friend), and maybe her children Jeff and Cathy.

• Are there group photos or video from holiday gatherings that capture a story about your family?
It's very strange to me that I can't find any photos from Christmas when my siblings and I were young.  My father took lots of photos, but apparently not on holidays.

• What dishes were a staple at your family's holiday celebrations?  Who made them?
I remember that we always had turkey and ham, because Aunt Sam loved ham.  I also remember we had the classics:  candied yams (which were of course really sweet potatoes), green bean casserole, mashed potatoes.  I believe my mother made everything.
I don't like sweet potatoes, and my mother tricked me one year.  She told me the food was candy.  I took one bite, glared at her, and exclaimed, "It's yams!"  And she grinned and said, "Candied yams!"  Talk about ruining your child's faith in you.

• Do you own or display any heirlooms, decorations, or items that belonged to your ancestors during the holidays?
I have my mother's menorah and usually display it during Chanukah, although I almost never light the candles.  I used to have our old Elf on the Shelf, but I haven't been able to find him.

• Did your family have traditions for how gifts were given or opened?
We children were allowed to open one present, which we could choose, on Christmas Eve.  Everything else was opened Christmas morning.  My brother always opened his presents very carefully, cutting the tape, unfolding the paper, and then refolding it flat.

Even with that long list of AI questions Randy provided, that's it for what I remember.  Let's see how my siblings do.

Wordless Wednesday

 

A Cast at Christmas (and maybe his birthday also?) Couldn't Have Been Fun

It's my father's birthday today.  If he were still here with us, he would be 89 years old.

Growing up, my mother used to joke about how my father had broken one arm and one leg each three times, one on the left side, the other on the right.  She never said how or when he had done that, but I took it on faith that it was true.  He told me that he had broken an arm once racing cars when he was young, but he never mentioned a broken leg.

Going through my photo bonanza, I discovered two photos of my father wearing a cast.  So now I can document at least part of my mother's story!

This photograph was taken at a Chevron/Standard Oil station, but I can't guess anything beyond "somewhere in the Los Angeles area."  It might have been a station my father worked at, because I don't recall that he ever owned a Chevron station.  I think his mechanic businesses were all independents.  I've been told the car might be a 1958 or 1959 Buick, but I'm working on pinning that down more definitively.

Here's another photo of Daddy with a cast, which appears to be the same as in the other photo.  The angles are different and the second photo doesn't show his hand as clearly, so I'm not 100% certain, but it's a pretty good match.

This broken arm had to be different from the one he told me about, because that one was while he was still living with his mother, before he was married.  So I guess that means I've somewhat documented two of his broken arm events that my mother talked about.

After a little online research, the thing Daddy is playing with in this photo is a Johnny Astro Luna 3, which seems to have come out in 1967.  The stockings attached to the fireplace bricks indicate this might have been around Christmas, so maybe the Johnny Astro was a present, although there's no way to tell from the photo whether it was for him or one of us kids.  He might just have been testing the toy to make sure it worked, like so many other parents.  I don't recognize the room so don't know if it's our house or someone else's, or where it could be.

Obviously, I have more research to do!  But I feel I was able to identify enough to post this for Daddy's birthday.

These are two photos of the Johnny Astro and its components.  I think the small oval white thing next to one of the stars on the launching station in the first photo might be the astronaut.  And next to it appears to be a clear piece of plastic, which might be a bag of some sort; maybe inside it are one or two of the vehicles?

According to the box, the original came with a "control center, 3 space vehicles, astronaut and capsule, and launching station."  There was also a sheet of paper, which was most likely the instructions.

Wow, if we still had the Johnny Astro now, I wonder how much it would be worth?

Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday

 

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun: Your 2023 Christmas Genea-gifts

At first I was thinking that I had not received any genea-gifts for Christmas and therefore was not going to comment on today's Saturday Night Genealogy Fun post from Randy Seaver, but then I reconsidered.

Come on, everybody, join in and accept the mission and execute it with precision.

1.  Was Genea-Santa good to you?  What genealogy gifts did you receive for Christmas this year?

2.  Tell us about them in your own blog post, in a comment on this post, or in a Facebook Status  post.  Please leave a link on this post if you write your own post.

So I had only one item in my 2023 Dear Genea-Santa letter:  I am still trying to find Raymond Lawrence Sellers, the son my aunt gave up for adoption in 1945 in New Jersey (a very unfriendly state to deal with for adoption records after 1940).  And I might have made progress.  Maybe.

After I posted my Genea-Santa letter, I was contacted by someone who thinks s/he (nope, no reveal here) was in contact with Raymond.  The person I was told about VERY STRONGLY resembles (I saw a photo; could almost be a twin) a known person in my family.  The known person in the family would be a sibling to the person being hypothesized as Raymond.  And the person being hypothesized as Raymond knew he was adopted.

But the hypothetical Raymond is older than Raymond should be.  So does that mean that my aunt had her facts mixed up?  After so many years of hiding information and outright lying on her part, absolutely possible.  Or could this almost-twin be related to the known person in the family in another way that would explain the VERY STRONG resemblance?  Also possible.

So Genea-Santa didn't give me a straightforward gift for this but instead a tantalizing teaser that still needs to be resolved.  But it's certainly the most progress I have made on this in the past six years.

And I did get another gift from Genea-Santa.  In Linda Stufflebean's updated "December Meme" from two weeks ago, one of the questions was where you wanted to be dropped off if you could hitch a ride on Santa's sleigh.  I chose Lebanon, where my two oldest grandchildren live.  It turned out I didn't have to go down to Lebanon; the sleigh apparently dropped them off for a visit in Vancouver!  And that was a wonderful present indeed.

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun: Christmas Weather

Tonight's topic from Randy Seaver for Saturday Night Genealogy Fun should be interesting!

Come on, everybody, join in and accept the mission and execute it with precision.  Here's your chance to sit on Genea-Santa's lap (virtually) and tell him about your Christmas weather experiences:

1.  What Christmas-time weather have you experienced?  Does it snow at Christmas time where you live?  What are the likely temperatures at Christmas time??

2. Tell us about them in your own blog post, in a comment on this post, or in a Facebook Status post.  Please leave a link on this post if you write your own post.

My Christmas weather experiences cover a range of very different locations.

From when I was born to just before I turned 9, my family lived in east Los Angeles County.  So Christmas weather was similar to Randy's experience in San Diego:  warm and sunny, mild and cloudy, to cool and rainy.  The closest we came to snow was when my father and Uncle Tony drove up to Mt. Baldy in a pickup truck, filled the back with snow, and came back with it.  We played in it for a while, but I suspect it melted relatively quickly.

From Los Angeles my family moved to Sydney, New South Wales, Australia and lived there and in the suburbs for two years.  This is another location with warm and sunny or mild and cloudy weather in the winter, but in the Southern Hemisphere, Christmas comes during the summer!  So we had beautiful summer weather for Christmas for two years.

Back to the Northern Hemisphere, I next lived for six years in and near Niceville, Florida, in about the middle of the Florida Panhandle, with my family.  Although most people think "hot and muggy" when they think of Florida, the Panhandle does actually experience winter.  We regularly had below-freezing temperatures at some point during the winter, but mostly it was cool and rainy for Christmas.  On January 19, 1977, which I realize is after Christmas, we had one day with enough snow that it actually stuck when it hit the ground and did not melt immediately (that's also the day there were snow flurries in Miami).  We got the rest of the day off from school, but by the time everyone got home, the snow was gone.

After Florida I moved back to Los Angeles.  The weather had not changed in the intervening years, although it wasn't quite as smoggy as it had been.  On the other hand, I was in South Central Los Angeles, not east Los Angeles County, so that might have explained the improvement in the air.

I lived in Los Angeles for ten years and then headed north to Berkeley.  I was there for almost four years and then bought a house in Oakland, where I stayed for 24 1/2 years.  Christmas in the Bay Area was often rainy and almost always slightly cool.  I never saw snow where I lived, but I believe that sometimes in the Berkeley and Oakland hills they occasionally had dustings of snow.

And now I'm even further north, in the Portland Metro area of Oregon.  I'm in Gresham, east of Portland and at the west end of the Columbia River Gorge, so it's usually a little colder here than in Portland proper.  It is normal for the area to have at least a day or two of snow during the winter, sometimes around Christmas.  My first year here we had a hard freeze with no snow on Christmas, and I was stuck in my house for three days with the cats and the birds.  But a couple of years ago we had a beautiful blanket of snow in the front and back yards for Christmas, and it was beautiful.

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun: Your 2023 "Dear Genea-Santa" Letter

It is that time of year again, when Randy Seaver has us write to Genea-Santa for Saturday Night Genealogy Fun.

Come on, everybody, join in and accept the mission and execute it with precision.  Here's your chance to sit on Genea-Santa's lap (virtually) and tell him your Christmas genealogy-oriented wish list:

1.  Write your 2023 Genea-Santa letter.  Have you been a good genealogy girl or boy?  What genealogy-oriented items are on your Christmas wish list?  They could be family history items, technology items, or things that you want to pursue in your ancestral quest.

2.  Tell us about them in your own blog post, in a comment on this post, or in a Facebook Status post.  Please leave a link on this post if you write your own post.

I was looking through my old Genea-Santa posts and noticed that I haven't written a letter since 2019!  I've been a pretty good genealogy girl:  still doing lots of volunteer work, doing as much research as I can, sharing information with family members.

That said, my request list again is very, very short, because it's the most important thing I'm researching, but it has changed a little.

I'm still trying to find out what happened to the son my Aunt Dottie gave up for adoption in 1945, shortly after his birth on September 23.  She gave him the name Raymond Lawrence Sellers.  I don't know what name he was given after adoption.

I have done everything I know to do:

* Dottie's DNA is on Family Tree DNA, MyHeritage, and GEDMatch.  I couldn't get her on Ancestry or 23andMe because those are spit tests, and Dottie couldn't manufacture enough for the tests.

* Raymond's siblings are represented on Ancestry and 23andMe.

* I did what I could with state research, but Raymond was born and adopted in New Jersey, which sealed adoption records from 1941 on.  I tried searching through birth indices, but they did not point me anywhere helpful.

* Dottie registered with New Jersey as being willing to accept contact if Raymond chose to look for her.

The difference this year is that Dottie passed away in 2021.  I don't know what would happen if Raymond did try to contact her through the New Jersey state office at this point.  I need to find out if an alternate contact person (such as my cousin, who is Dottie's daughter and Raymond's sister) can be named or if the parent is the only person the state will accept (and I'm pretty sure that's what they do, because they're just not a friendly state to work with).  Raymond's siblings would very much like to find him and connect with him, especially now that Dottie is gone.

That really leaves only the DNA databases as a way to find Raymond.  But if he died young or if he and any children he might have had have never tested, we won't be able to find him.

I keep hoping.  C'mon, Genea-Santa.

Christmas Memories and Traditions

I was waiting to see what Randy Seaver posted for this week's Saturday Night Genealogy Fun, but it wasn't a topic that inspired me, so I'm wandering off on my own tonight.  I'm thinking about my memories of Christmas, which, like me, are a little eclectic.

One of my earliest memories of Christmas isn't about something expected like Santa Claus.  No, it's how when my mother's best friend, Sam, used to come over for Christmas, we would have not only the traditional turkey but also ham, because Sam loved ham.  (When Sam was over we also had ham with the turkey for Thanksgiving.)  I suspect not many people associate ham with Christmas, but I do.  And we usually had sweet potatoes, which my mother tried to convince me once were candy (as in candied yams).  It's really hard to trust a parent again when she pulls that on you.  By the way, no, I don't like sweet potatoes.

We didn't have a Christmas tree for Christmas; we had a Chanukah bush.  Yes, it's the same thing, just with a different name.  I don't know why my mother called it a Chanukah bush, since she didn't do anything else Chanukah-ish other than put out a menorah.  She didn't light the candles, mind you, just put the menorah out on display.   But we had our Chanukah bush to go with the menorah.

One tradition we had whether Sam was visiting us or not was to open one present on Christmas Eve.  We had different ways of trying to pick the present:  What looked the coolest?  Which was the largest?  Which had the prettiest wrapping paper?  Did one make a certain noise when it was shaken?  And my mother was pretty strict that it was only one present, so if you picked a boring one, oh, well!  Have to wait until Christma smorning to open the rest!  I don't remember any really boring ones, so maybe it always worked out okay.

During the time my family lived in Australia, Boxing Day, the day after Christmas (i.e., December 26), became part of our Christmas routine.  I remember that we used to receive an extra gift on Boxing Day, but I don't remember that we gave gifts to any of the people who did work for us during the year.  That doesn't mean we didn't, just that I don't remember it.

After moving from home to start college, I flew back and spent the next four Christmases with my parents.  What I remember most from those trips is that my mother had gotten hooked on daytime soap operas, and my sister used to watch them with her.  I would come, not having seen anything of the shows during the intervening year (because I didn't and still don't watch soap opears), and yet somehow I was able to follow the plots with no problem.  That reminds me of an old joke about soap operas:  They're the only place where it takes a woman eleven nmonths to have a premature baby.

After I graduated college I didn't have the money to fly back east for Christmas.  I started celebrating Christmas locally with friends for the most part, the specifics of which might change from one year to the next depending on where I was living and other factors.

When I was with my ex, I regularly traveled to Portland for the Christmas holidays, because that's where his world was centered.  That's when I really started spending Christmas with my "family of choice" (and also had my first white Christmas).  And then after we had grandchildren, I went to Portland as much as possible, espcially during Christmas, because the grandchidlren were mostly in that area.

Now that I live in the Portland area myself, I don't have to go as far to see my grandchildren, which is good, because they're now the most important part of my Christmas.  This year I visited the three youngest in person on Christmas Eve and had a video chat with the two older ones on Christmas Day and was able to watch them open their presents.  And those are great memories to add to the others.

All five grandchildren, Christmas 2017

 

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun: Blog Caroling!

How do you carol on a blog?  Let's see how Randy Seaver explains it for Saturday Night Genealogy Fun:

Are you in the Christmas spirit yet?  I love this time of year — and hearing and singing Christmas carols and songs is my favorite holiday pastime.

Your mission, should you decide to accept it, is to:

(1) Identify your absolute favorite Christmas carol or holiday song.  

(2) Share your favorite Christmas carol or holiday song in a blog post, in a comment to this post, or in a Facebook post.  Please leave a comment and link here to your post.

(3) For extra credit, post an audio or video of the carol or song (almost all are on YouTube.com) and the words to the song.  Add the background of the song and the artists if you can find them.

(4) Enjoy the memories and feelings that the carol or song brings to your heart and mind, and share them too!

I'm going to double-dip toinght.

First, my absolute favorite Christmas carol is "Do You Hear What I Hear?"  I don't remember the first time I heard it, but I might have actually sung it in junior-high chorus.  My teacher was Miss Foster.

You can find Robert Goulet singing the song here, on YouTube, as Randy predicted.  There's another recording of him singing it that includes this description of the song:

"Do You Hear What I Hear?", the beloved Christmas song was written by Noel Regney, in 1962 with Gloria Shayne, his wife at that time. It was recorded by Bing Crosby and Perry Como, among others, in more than 120 versions, in musical styles ranging from jazz and New Age to funk and reggae. Mr. Regney said in an 1985 interview in The New York, "I wrote it as a clear and plaintive plea for peace at the time of the Cuban missile crisis, in October 1962." His favorite version was Robert Goulet's. "When Mr. Goulet came to the line, ''Pray for peace, people, everywhere,'' he almost shouted the words. I am amazed that people can think they know the song -- and not know it is a prayer for peace. But we are so bombarded by sound and our attention spans are so short that we now listen only to catchy beginnings.''

And the lyrics:

Do You Hear What I Hear? 

Said the night wind to the little lamb
Do you see what I see?
Way up in the sky, little lamb
Do you see what I see?
A star, a star
Dancing in the night
With a tail as big as a kite
With a tail as big as a kite

 

Said the little lamb to the shepherd boy
Do you hear what I hear?
(Do you hear what I hear?)
Ringing through the sky. shepherd boy
Do you hear what I hear?
(Do you hear what I hear?)
A song, a song
High above the trees
With a voice as big as the sea
With a voice as big as the sea

 

Said the shepherd boy to the mighty king
Do you know what I know?

(Do you know what I know?)
In your palace warm, mighty king
Do you know what I know?
(Do you know what I know?)
A child, a child
Shivers in the cold
Let us bring him silver and gold
Let us bring him silver and gold

 

Said the king to the people everywhere
Listen to what I say!
(Listen to what I say!)
Pray for peace, people everywhere
Listen to what I say!
(Listen to what I say!)
The child, the child
Sleeping in the night
He will bring us goodness and light
He will bring us goodness and light
He will bring us goodness and light

 

[Lyrics source:  Musicmatch.  Songwriters:  Noel Regney, Gloria Shayne.  "Do You Hear What I Hear?" lyrics © Jewel Music Publiching Company, Inc.]

 

And second, my favorite Chanukah song is "Light One Candle", the hippie social-protest Chanukah folksong.  (You didn't know there was such a thing?)  It was written by Peter Yarrow of Peter, Paul and Mary and sung by them many times before Mary passed away.  One of my favorite versions (yes, available on YouTube) is this one from a PBS concert.  And I love it even more than "Do You Hear What I Hear?"

The song has a Wikipedia page with some background information, and here are the lyrics:

Don't Let the Light Go Out

 

Light one candle for the Maccabee children
With thanks that their light didn't die
Light one candle for the pain they endured
When their right to exist was denied
Light one candle for the terrible sacrifice
Justice and freedom demand
But light one candle for the wisdom to know
When the peacemaker's time is at hand

 

Don't let the light go out!
It's lasted for so many years!
Don't let the light go out!
Let it shine through our hope and our tears. (2)

 

Light one candle for the strength that we need
To never become our own foe
And light one candle for those who are suffering
The pain we learned so long ago
Light one candle for all we believe in
That anger not tear us apart
And light one candle to bind us together
With peace as the song in our hearts 

 

Don't let the light go out!
It's lasted for so many years!
Don't let the light go out!
Let it shine through our hope and our tears. (2) 

 

What is the memory that's valued so highly
That we keep it alive in that flame?
What's the commitment to those who have died
That we cry out they've not died in vain?
We have come this far always believing
That justice would somehow prevail
This is the burden, this is the promise
And this is why we will not fail! 

 

Don't let the light go out!
Don't let the light go out!
Don't let the light go out!

 

[Lyrics source:  LyricFind.  Songwriter:  Peter Yarrow.  "Light One Candle" lyrics © Warner Chappell, Inc.]

Wordless Wednesday

 

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun: What Did Genea-Santa Bring You and Your Family?

I'm running a little late this week, but I did get a great present from Genea-Santa, so I wanted to chime in for Randy Seaver's post-Christmas Saturday Night Genealogy Fun:

Here is your assignment, should you decide to accept it (you ARE reading this, so I assume that you really want to play along; cue the Mission:  Impossible! music!):

(1) What genea-gift did Genea-Santa bring you and/or your family this Christmas season?

(2) Tell us in a comment to this blog post, in your own blog post, or in a Facebook post, and be sure to leave a link to your post.

So I had two gifts from Genea-Santa this Christmas.  The first was actually on Christmas Day, when I spent the day with three of my grandchildren.  That's a wonderful gift at any time, but it's particularly enjoyable during the holidays.

The second gift was very unexpected and came a couple of days later.  For more than 20 years I have been searching for the arrival into the United States of my great-great-grandmother Ruchel Dwoire (Jaffe) Brainin and her three youngest children.  I will be posting more about my discovery soon, because it's a long, convoluted story, but I finally have found them!  Not only that, the oldest daughter in the family was traveling with them, probably to help her mother manage the younger children.

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun: Tell Us Your Best Christmas Memory

We're getting close to Christmas, so it isn't surprising that Randy Seaver is focusing on the holiday for this week's Saturday Night Genealogy Fun challenge:

Here is your assignment, should you decide to accept it (you ARE reading this, so I assume that you really want to play along; cue the Mission:  Impossible! music!):

(1) Many of us grew up believing in Santa Claus as children, having a Christmas tree, going to church, and visiting relatives and friends at Christmas time.

(2) Tell us your "best" Christmas memory:  What Christmas holiday event is still vivid and real in your mind?

(3) Share it in a blog post of your own or in a Facebook post.  Please leave a comment here so we can all read about your memory.

I hope this doesn't make me sound like a Scrooge, but I had serious trouble remembering anything specific about Christmas.  I know we celebrated it when I was a child (and my mother jokingly called the Christmas tree a "Chanukah bush"), and I used to believe in Santa Claus, but I couldn't come up with any special presents, any Christmas visitors, nothin'.  My mother's family is Jewish, so they weren't doing anything with us for Christmas, and my father wasn't close to his family.  Neither of my parents was observant about religion.

The memory I was finally able to come up with was, of all things, going to Midnight Mass with my mother while I still lived in Niceville, Florida.  Even though my mother was Jewish, she had a lifelong fascination with Catholicism.  I don't know if Niceville even had a synagogue (somehow I doubt it, and it doesn't seem to now), but it definitely had at least one Catholic church (it appears to have two currently).  I think two years in a row my mother and I attended Midnight Mass.  I remember being impressed with all the pomp and ritual, but I don't recall any details.  I also remember my mother being very happy that she was able to find someone to go with, and I guess that's the most important part.

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun: What Should Genea-Santa Bring You?

It isn't actually December yet, but Randy Seaver is getting into the retail spirit and starting Christmas early for Saturday Night Genealogy Fun:

Here is your assignment, should you decide to accept it (you ARE reading this, so I assume that you really want to play along; cue the Mission:  Impossible! music!):

(1) Only 25 days until Christmas now!  Have you been a good genea-boy or genea-girl?  

(2) What gift should Genea-Santa bring you for Christmas?  What do you need, or want, to help you with your family history, your research, etc.?

(3) Tell us in your own blog post, in a comment to this blog post, or on Facebook. Please leave a comment with a link to your blog post.

Well, I think I've been a good genea-girl this past year.  I volunteer at my local Family History Center every week.  I support my local genealogical societies by coordinating a research group, editing a journal, scheduling programming, giving presentations, and serving on two boards.  I'm sure I could do better, but I do put in a lot of time.

As for what gift I would like from Genea-Santa, I'm going to sound like a broken record, but what I want the most is to find out what happened to the son my Aunt Dottie gave up for adoption in 1945.  She gave him the name Raymond Lawrence Sellers.  We have no idea what name he was given later.  I've done everything I know to do:  Dottie's DNA is in the Family Tree DNA, MyHeritage, and GEDMatch databases; Raymond's siblings (full and half) are in AncestryDNA and 23andMe.  I'm at a dead end with state research, because this all happened in New Jersey, and they aren't very friendly on this subject.  Dottie registered as being willing to accept contact if Raymond should look for her, but that's all Jersey allows.  They give out no information.  Dottie is now 94, and I fear age is catching up with her.  I keep hoping we'll find a DNA match, but no luck so far.  If there is anything else I can do to help further the search, I'm open to suggestions.