Tis the holiday season and, with this week’s Saturday Night Genealogy Fun challenge from Randy Seaver, it is also to update Santa about our behavior and genea-wish list.

1) Write your 2020 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.

Dear Genea-Santa,

Well, 2020 has definitely been one for the history books, Genea-Santa! A year like no other in anyone’s memory.

I have been a really good girl this year. Being not so young anymore, I’ve made an extra effort to adhere to covid safety guidelines and then some.

Thank goodness for the internet, as it has allowed me to continue my favorite “giving back to the genealogy community” activity. I’ve been able to send a dozen vintage photographs back home to descendants of the subjects in the pictures. The messages I’ve received back from them tells me the ancestors are quite happy being reunited with family. I’ve also virtually helped readers who have contacted me with their own genealogical questions.

Genea-Santa, my wish list isn’t very long this year:

On the technology front, I would love to have RootsMagic 8. It’s been promised for almost two years and I hope it is finally released in 2021. I’ve been cleaning up my family trees and they will be in spectacular condition when the software release happens.

Patience! This is also tech-related. I am a very patient person, Santa, but I need an extra dose to deal with WordPress Gutenberg blocks, which I am trying to use more often, but really, really dislike hate Gutenberg blocks. It’s a matter of why fix something that isn’t broken and then break it. Since WordPress is threatening to end support for its Classic version next December, I need to stick with it and put up with the dumb things they did.

Next, I would love a new book – Let’s Speak Rusyn – Presov Edition. I’ve learned lots more about the Rusyn culture and language this year. Nana always said she spoke Slovak, but I think that’s because her family lived in the Slovak side of Czechoslovakia. She actually spoke the Presov version of Rusyn, which has several dialects. Rusyn, being a Slavic language, is a difficult language to master, but I’d like to learn the basics.

Lastly, Genea-Santa, with 2020 being so hard for everyone, especially those who have lost loved ones and friends to this pandemic, please leave everyone an extra sprinkling of comfort and joy this holiday season.

Thanks, Genea-Santa! There will be some milk and cookies waiting for you on Christmas Eve.