Christmas Card Greetings to All for 2010

Relationship Chart for the Bodily Family

Relationship Chart for the Belnap Family

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Relationship Chart for the Peterson Family

Relationship Chart for the Walker Family

Christmas with the Ancestors. A Slide Show of Them and Us.

John Mattson and wife Beverly with Luella Williamson, his older sister

From the Fortress of Solitude
Pleasant Grove

Hello!
The valley looks cold and gray from outside the Fortress window. It has rained off and on all day with no sightings of the sun. I can't see the mountains on the opposite side of Utah Lake. They've been swallowed in a wall of white cloud and fog. It is one of those days where a good book and warm fire make the world bright once more.

Did you hear unusual shouting Friday afternoon around 3:30 P.M.? If so, then you heard the vocalized joy springing from the lungs of teachers and students alike as the school bell rang in the start of the 2010 Christmas vacation. I stood in the Space Center's doorway and watched as our students nearly trampled the Foster Grandparent volunteers to the floor in their rush to exit the building. With amusement I watched the Principal, bull horn in hand, wade into the churning sea of children in search of marooned first graders shoved aside into the brick walls by the older and stronger students. There were a few bloody noses and bumped heads but I'm happy to report that everyone got out alive.

The school looked a mess with broken candy canes and crumbled sugar cookies decorating the hallway floors. Normally I wouldn't give it a second thought but our afternoon custodian called in sick (how convenient) leaving no one to clean up the building before our weekend overnight campers arrived at 7:00 P.M. Not to worry. I've got a great staff and we got things cleaned up.

The Space Center closed at 5:00 P.M. yesterday and so my vacation has formally begun.

This Tuesday evening the Mattson Family will be hosting their traditional Christmas Reunion. Mattsons from far and wide are invited to attend. It is one of the few times we all gather at one place at one time to get our fill of each for another year. To celebrate the upcoming highlight of our family social calendar, I'd like to post a few pictures from last year's gathering.

This slide show is a bit different (you should already be accustom to that). In addition to our pictures, this slide show also has pictures from our ancestor's times in Tudor England. If you remember from reading the blog's posts, we are directly and indirectly related to several of players in the drama we call the Court of Henry VII and VIII. So, the slideshow is a us now and those that came before us then.

The Christmas Carol accompanying the photographs was written by King Henry VIII and sung widely in Tudor England. Our ancestors would have known this song and sang it (especially if it was written by the King). So, enjoy watching them and us with the Christmas music of their time.

Simply,
Victor

2010's Christmas Cards

Happy Holidays from Kirk, Val and kids (Mattson)

Relationship Chart

Happy Holidays from Jake, Emily and kids (Mattson)

Relationship Chart

Our Families at Christmas Time.

From the Fortress of Solitude
Pleasant Grove

Hello All,
Far from being inclusive, this slide presentation is composed of pictures I had readily at my disposal from Christmas times past.

Please understand that I'm not the photographer I once was. I've reached the age where running around the room snapping pictures is best left to the younger parents. If you don't mind then, I think I'll sidestep the crawling infants and dodge the charging toddlers and venture into the geriatric tea corner to reminisce with my siblings and peers. We have the world's problems to solve and everyone else's business to discuss. This is the place where every other spoken paragraph begins with "Back in my day" and "What's happening to this world?" (as if we weren't the ultimate cause. Shall we be honest?).

This is but one of many holiday greetings to come as This American Dynasty celebrates its first Christmas. Thank you for reading and thank you for your comments.

And a special Merry Christmas to our ancestors now gone. May they always be remembered.

Simply,
Victor

Holiday Greetings from the Martin Family

Holiday greetings from the Martin Williamson family (Denice Norman, Serenity Clerk, Sara Clerk, Jim Norman, Linda Ames and Bob Ames). We are having rain here in Oroville CA but we need it.

Serenity will catch up with all the news when she gets her studies done at Harvard. My daughter Linda and I flew to Boston and got to visit Serenity and her husband Will. Serenity is very busy but will write all about her time at Harvard later she said.

Merry Xmas and Happy Holidays for 2010.

Ruth Martin

Merry Christmas. Brandon and Monica Delgrosso

Happy Holidays to all from the Brandon and Monica Delgrosso family.

The Christmas Card Reunion of 2010. Happy Holidays from the Tolleys

The Tolley Family
L to R: Claire held by Brady, Kai, Nicole, and Alivia

From the Fortress of Solitude
Pleasant Grove

Thanks Nicole for being the first to join An American Dynasty's Christmas Card Reunion for 2010! And her gift, a CD copy of the family history, mailed to her home. Your copy is waiting, free of charge. Just join the reunion.

How is Nicole and her family related to you?
Look Below...... (Click to Enlarge)

Join the 2010 Christmas Card Reunion and Share the Holidays with Family.

If you are related to anyone you see on the top line of the Reunion Relation Chart above, then get your free copy of this family history by sending your Christmas family photo and optional greeting (as in a short letter telling us what your family has been up to this last year) by email (ussvoyager@aol.com) or through the mail;

The Fortress of Solitude
1207 N. 730 E.
Pleasant Grove, UT
84062

Happy Holidays Williamsons, Mattsons, Vercellinos, Pierces, Dennises, Phlegars, Trouts, Fiddlers, Willises, Goodykoontzs, McCrillises, Tornbergs, Carlsdotters, Johansdotters, Georges, Crippens, etc. etc.............

Simply,
Victor