There's been a change in Grandma, we've noticed it of late.

She's always reading history or jotting down some date.

She's tracking back her family, you all have pedigrees.

Oh Grandma's got a hobby, she's climbing FAMILY TREES.

Poor Grandpa does the cooking, and now, or so he states,

The worst of all, he has to wash the cups and all the dinner plates.

Grandma can' t be bothered, she's busy as a bee,

Compiling genealogy for the FAMILY TREE.

She has no time to baby sit, the curtains are a fright,

No buttons left and Grandpa's shirt, the flower bed's a sight.

She's given up her club work and the soaps on TV,

The only thing she does nowadays is climb the FAMILY TREE

She goes down to the records office and studies ancient lore,

We know more about our forebears than we ever did before,

The books are old and dusty, that makes poor Grandma sneeze,

A minor irritation when you're climbing FAMILY TREES

Now some folks come from Scotland, some from Galway Bay,

Some were French as pastry, some Germans all the way.

Some went west to stake their claims, some stayed there by the sea.

Grandma hopes to find them all, as she climbs the FAMILY TREE

She wanders through the graveyard in search of date and name,

The rich, the poor, the in between, all sleeping there the same.

She pauses now and then to rest, fanned by a gentle breeze,

That blows above the Father's of all our FAMILY TREES

There are pioneers and patriots, mixed in our kith and kin,

Who blazed the paths of wilderness and fought through thick and thin.

But none more staunch than Grandma, whose eyes light up with glee,

Each time she finds a missing branch for the FAMILY TREE

Their skills were wide and varied, from carpenter to cook,

And one, alas the records show, was a hopeless crook,

Blacksmith, weaver, farmer, judge, some tutored for a fee,

Once lost in time, now all recorded on the FAMILY TREE

To some it's just a hobby, to Grandma it's much more,

She learns the joys and heartaches of those that went before,

They loved, they lost, they laughed, they wept and now, for you and me,

They live again in spirit, around the FAMILY TREE

At last she's nearly finished and we are all exposed,

Life will never be the same again, this we all supposed,

Grandma will cook and sew, serve biscuits with our tea,

We'll all be fat, just before the wretched FAMILY TREE

Sad to relate, the vicar called and visited for a spell, 

We talked about the Gospel, and other things as well,

The heathen folk, the poor and then twas fate, it had to be,

Somehow the conversations turned to Grandma and the FAMILY TREE

He never knew his Grandpa, his mother's name was ..Clark?

He and Grandma talked and talked, while outside it grew quite dark.

We'd hoped our fears were groundless, but just like some disease,

Grandma's become addicted, she's hooked on FAMILY TREES

Our souls are filled with sorrow, our hearts sad with dismay,

Our ears could scarce believe the words we heard our Grandma say,

"It sure is a lucky thing that you have come to me,

I know exactly how it's done, I'll climb your FAMILY TREE"

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Bought at a family history fair by Ann Russell and kindly sent for inclusion