Christmas Gifts from the Archives: Year-End Research Projects
Small genealogy research projects you can do the days between Christmas and New Year, when life is usually quieter than the weeks before. Travel is done, the main meals are over, and people are in the house with more time than usual and fewer places to be.
For a genealogist, that’s useful.
You may not be able to work through a complicated brick wall or spend hours in an archive, but you can make progress on small, targeted tasks that will strengthen your research. Think of them as year-end maintenance projects – practical “gifts” to your future self and to anyone who will later take over your work.
Below are some concrete things you can do during romjul, using the people, photographs, and paper that are already in the house.
1. Deal With the One Album That’s Already Out
Most families pull out at least one old photo album at Christmas. Instead of telling yourself you’ll “sort the photos one day”, decide that this year you will deal with the one that’s on the table right now.
What to do:
Work through it with whoever is willing to help.
For each photo, ask:
Who is in the picture (left to right)?
Where was it taken?
Roughly what year?
Write that information:
On the back in soft pencil (for prints), or
In the file name / caption (for digital photos).
If you like, create a simple index on paper or in a spreadsheet:
Photo number or file name
People
Place
Approximate year
Short note (“First Christmas in the new house”, “Grandfather just home from sea”, etc.)
You’re not building a perfect system. You’re making sure that identifications and stories are captured while the people who know them are still around. Remember we are talking about small genealogy research projects.
2. Run a Short, Focused Christmas Interview
Christmas gathers generations around the same table. That is rare in the rest of the year. Use it.
You don’t need a formal session with lights and microphones. A short, focused conversation is enough.
Suggested approach:
Choose one person at a time: a grandparent, an older aunt or uncle, or a cousin with good memory.
Ask a few very specific questions, for example:
“What is the first Christmas you remember clearly?”
“Who usually hosted Christmas when you were a child?”
“Was there a Christmas when something unusual happened — illness, bad weather, travel problems?”
“Did your family ever celebrate Christmas in a completely different place?”
You can, of course, again see if Grandma Anna is ready to share her secret krumkake recipe.
If it feels natural, ask for permission to record the answers on your phone. Many people are fine with that if they understand you’re doing this for family history. While this is not intended to be a formal interview, you might take a look at my article about interviews.
Afterwards, you can:
Note key dates, places and names in your research log.
Transcribe useful passages.
Attach the audio file or transcript to individuals in your tree.
Ten minutes of structured questions will often yield more context than you’ll ever find in formal records.
3. Do a Proper Year-End Backup
This one is not charming, but it is essential.
Pick one afternoon and declare it backup time for your genealogy.
Minimum actions:
Export a fresh GEDCOM from your main tree.
Copy your:
Research notes
Key scans (parish registers, old letters, certificates)
Important photographs
Store these in at least two different places:
Your computer and
An external drive / memory stick or a cloud service.
Include a simple text file:
“Main family tree is in [software name].
Backups are stored here: [location].
Last updated: [date].”
Print that note and put it somewhere obvious with a label such as “Family history – start here”. This is the sort of dull but crucial documentation that prevents years of work from disappearing.
As family visits for Christmas you might want to give one of them a memory stick with your backed up work, explain what it is and ask them to safekeep it and ask them to bring it back next Christmas. If one of the copies should, God forbid, be destroyed in some sort of dramatic event, there is another copy to start from.
4. Write One Christmas Snapshot per Ancestor
Instead of “writing a family book” (which easily becomes too big), try something smaller and more manageable:
Write one short Christmas snapshot for a few selected ancestors.
Pick a few people or couples you know reasonably well from your research. For each, write a brief paragraph describing one likely Christmas in their lives.
Base it on evidence:
Census information (household size, occupations).
Bygdebok descriptions of the farm or local conditions.
Known events (emigration, a death that year, a bad harvest).
Local histories describing Christmas customs in their region and period.
Keep it clearly labelled as a reconstruction:
“Reconstructed scene based on 1900 census, parish records and local history for [place].”
Store these snapshots in one document or folder. Over several years, these can become a useful narrative supplement to your bare facts: short, sourced “case studies” of how specific families may have experienced Christmas.
5. Sort the Paper Drift
Most active genealogists accumulate loose paper: printouts from Digitalarkivet, scribbled notes from bygdebøker, random references from conversations or talks. Remnants of prior genealogy projects
Year-end is a good time to stop that from turning into chaos and a very suitable small genealogy research projects.
Simple three-pile method:
Prepare three labelled piles or boxes:
To file – material you want to keep and store properly (binders, folders, plastic sleeves).
To process – notes and printouts that contain information still not entered into your tree or log.
To discard – duplicates, unreadable printouts, and things you have finished with.
Spend a set amount of time (30–60 minutes is enough):
Put each piece of paper into one of the three piles.
File the “to file” material in the right binder or folder.
Make a small, realistic to-do list from the “to process” pile for January.
Remove the “to discard” pile from your workspace without overthinking it.
You don’t need to finish everything. Even partial progress reduces friction for future work. These a meant to be small tasks that don’t take long to do.
6. Log What Actually Happened This Year
Your tree probably focuses on the past. Use the end of the year to ensure the present is recorded too.
Make a simple list for the current year:
Births
Deaths
Marriages / partnerships / separations
Moves
Other major events (graduations, major illnesses, retirements, etc.)
Add whatever you currently know:
Names
Places
Approximate dates
Brief notes (“Moved from Molde to Trondheim for work”, “Started studies in Bergen”).
Later, you can fill in exact dates. For now, your small project is preventing recent events from being forgotten or misremembered.
This can live as:
A page in your research log for each year, or
A chronological “Family Chronicle” document you update annually.
7. Scan Christmas Letters and Recipe Cards
Christmas often brings out boxes and drawers that are otherwise ignored: old cards, letters and recipe collections.
These are sources.
Look for:
Long Christmas letters with:
Addresses
Names of new children
Notices of moves, jobs, illnesses
Old recipe cards in recognisable handwriting for:
Fattigmann
Krumkaker
Lefse
Sauces and methods for Christmas dinner
Actions:
Scan or photograph the most informative items.
Use clear file names:
1978_Christmas_letter_from_Inger_to_Olsen_family.jpgGrandma_Signe_fattigmann_recipe.jpg
Note in your log which people and events they mention.
This is a small job with high payoff. Letters and recipes document names, addresses, relationships and traditions that rarely appear in official records.
8. Set One Concrete Goal for the New Year
Before the decorations go away, set yourself up for a clean start in January.
Choose one realistic genealogical goal for the coming year. Not a long wish list; a single, clear task:
“Finish transcribing the 1865 census entries for [farm or parish].”
“Document all descendants of [great-grandparent] down to today.”
“Write a two-page life sketch of [ancestor] using existing notes.”
Write it down where you keep your research (front of your main binder, first page of your log, note by your computer).
When everyday routines return and time is tight, you won’t have to waste energy deciding where to begin. The decision will already be waiting for you.
These small genealogy research projects are not spectacular, and they don’t require silence or long stretches of concentration. They are small, targeted actions that fit around normal Christmas life.
But taken together, they do something important: they protect your existing work, capture information that only lives in people’s heads, and add context to the bare dates and names in your tree. That is a solid set of “Christmas gifts” from the archives.
