I've been working on the family book all the livelong day!

Hi, neighbors. We have a new tradition in my extended family. Whenever we get together for a holiday, special event or all just happen to be in the same place for whatever reason, we take photos. Everyone takes photos.

Then, we make a CD of all the photos from our camera and mail them around. Everyone else does the same, so we all end up with all of the photos. This way, we eventually get photos of ourselves (we being the ones who always pack the cameras and take the photos.)

I can hear a universal moan from the readers. Why not just post them on Facebook?

I have an excellent reason or two. Many in the family or circle of friends do not DO Facebook. Remember, my friends are usually my age and have similar experiences with social networking on the Internet.

Also, many of the photos are babies, toddlers and other children and/or grandchildren of various ages. I, for one, will not post children's photos on a public view social networking page.

Besides, the CDs are good, clear photos and ideal for creating computerized versions of scrapbooks, complete with photo captions and even short narratives.

The photos can be copied into genealogy programs and printed off within context of their appointed branch on any given tree.

I like this new tradition and I hope it continues.

With more information, more primary source documents, more photos and umpteen printed and downloaded census reports, I now officially have more data on my genealogy program than I have time to deal with it.

Here's the plan. I WILL write in short narratives, biographies of every person on my data base. Currently, that number is 18,434 individuals. That is a lot of bios! And there are many that I have limited information on so their stories may be "flash" bios. But there will be something on everyone.

OK, let me see the logistics (a currently popular word) of this task. If every person gets a minimum of 50 words, that is 18,434 times 50. Humm -- 921,700 words, altogether.

If I write 100 words a day, that will be 9,217 days to complete my chore.

This means, I already have to dedicate a little more than 26 years to finish my family history book.

Oh dear. I should have started sooner!

The bad news is there are still more people to add to my database and children are being born seemingly every day.

I think I'll insist that everyone who sends me a photo also sends me a short bio of themselves and everyone in their family. That should help. Don't you think?

No matter how much time and effort it takes to even try to reach completion of a book about your ancestors, I still encourage everyone to write one. Include all those family stories your grandparents told over holiday diners; all those half faded instant print photos in your parent's plastic-covered scrapbook pages, and all of the tintypes and newspaper stories you can find. Don't forget to take photos of family heirlooms that are too frail to keep -- and write up the stories that go with them.

Remember to include narratives about when all the ancestors went to war, or took a "new type" of job, opened their own business, got married, moved to another state or country, or came here from another country. Write all those stories down about the family -- then collect some short historical facts from those time periods.

I know, I know. It sounds overwhelming.

So what? You have the rest of your life to work on it and finish it up. If you're lucky, you'll have children and grandchildren helping out. Don't forget to take pictures of them doing it!

Until the next time friends, remember that the Great American Novel is small work compared to a detailed family history book.

Well, hang around for copies of mine. The book should go on sale in 2040!