New Year. Time To Take Stock.

December 24, 2025

So this is Christmas
And what have you done?
Another year over
And a new one just begun.¹

How does a genealogist take stock in the past year and the year ahead? Last year I calculated my source citations/footnotes (…read more). As we move onto 2026 I looked back at 2025.

8 articles were published
6 additional articles were submitted and await publication in 2026
8 articles “under construction” for submission in 2026 and 2027
1 collection of articles (See The Kinship Papers)

Sorry, not citation count this year. They are part of genealogical writing. The hundreds of source citations written this year were essential … so why count?

FEATURED IMAGE: “Illustration of old fashioned wall calendar hanging over a desk,” CoPilot AI, 2026.

John Lennon, Happy Xmas (War Is Over), 1971.

About Author

Vanessa Wood is a genealogical researcher and writer specializing in American family history, with particular depth in Southern states, California, and families with roots in the United Kingdom. She is a member of the Association of Professional Genealogists (APG) and the National Genealogical Society (NGS), and holds a Certificate in Genealogical Research from Boston University. She is a First Prize winner of the 2026 Montana Family History Writing Contest and has 25+ published articles in journals including the National Genealogical Society Quarterly. Vanessa is the author of Pryor Wives: Stories of Family, Fortune, and Fiasco (2023), Board in Venice (2025), and The Kinship Papers, Vol. 1. Her books are available on Amazon.com. She can be contacted via email.