I absolutely love making homemade Christmas gifts. I enjoy praying over the person who will receive the gift. This year I jumped on the crazy train and decided I was going to give my family a present from the past. Genealogical study has always ranked high on my list of fairly nostalgic (albeit kind of nerdy) endeavors, but it has always fascinated me to see where I came from and the rich history of men and women coming together to produce my ancestors.

I bought one of these huge fan charts that goes out nine generations with our siblings at the core. I used it as a math lesson for my ‘p...