Just a reflection on the past year. At the close of last year I had managed to place my Smothers line to the year 1801. This year I have stretched that to the year 1738, without the help of all you researchers I could have never done that. It has been a wonderful year in some ways and not so good in others. I will start with the not so good. We lost a wonderful Smothers researcher this year with the passing of Helen Mozelle Smothers Swenson. Helen made many contributions to the Smothers list, if anyone research's the archives you will find many items donated to us by Helen. I also lost an Uncle this year, my dad's last brother, Halen (Buck) Smothers, he is pictured with my dad on the Smothers Reunion page. There has been numerous family members and friends that have made that journey that we all must face someday. I pray that we all are prepared when we are called up yonder. May they all Rest in Peace. Now on to the brighter side. This year we held the First Smothers Reunion in Saint Louis, being the first one, none of us really knew what to expect. The turnout was not as large as I had expected, but we still had Smothers researchers from Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, California, Kentucky, and Missouri. Everyone who attended had a very good time, and are anxious to have another one. I have been asked if and when we will have another. At present that is still in the air, and I hope to have an answer soon. My wife and I also attended a Smothers Reunion in Lebanon, Kentucky and had a truly wonderful time there. We had to laugh though as that Smothers bunch are very musical inclined, when my wife was asked if I could sing she had to reply "He doesn't carry a tune in a bucket". We met many fine Smothers's and their families, if anyone can they should make plans to attend this year, they sure made us feel welcome. With the advent of putting my family tree on the internet it has sure kept me busy, I find that is filling in lots of dead ends for many different surnames, I receive emails every day from all over the world with people trying to make connections. I recommend that everyone place theirs on there also, it is possible to do it so that all living relatives are excluded, and you also have the choice to allow or not allow others to download ged.files from it. I think that if a person is afraid of a virus that the internet is probably safer than your own home computers, and then if your computer crashes you can always retrieve your file from the Internet. This year we have had some new members to the Smothers mail list and have also lost some. There is various reasons that people come and go, but we can all be assured that no matter where they are, they are still thinking all the time about their family genealogies. I just wrote one two nights ago and she replied that she was hurt and down in the back and has had to put her research on hold. Steve Smothers and his wife is off for a while as they are taking care of their elderly parents, Steve will be back you can bet as soon as possible. There will be more new researchers you can be assured of after Christmas, if we all work to find them and guide them to the Smothers mail list, we just might find the answers that we all are looking for. There will be lots of Smothers travelers in the next few weeks may God be watching over all of you and may he bring you safely back so we can continue............. God Bless and Merry Christmas In Memory of all our Friends and Family. Noah