Despite what Ann Landers and her readers thought about “Christmas letters,” we wrote our first one in 1963 when we moved from Hanover, NH to Corvallis, OR. With the then-recent development of the photocopier, the Sixties became the high period for such correspondence. (However, our first effort was made on a mimeograph machine, using green ink!) We did, however, repeatedly apologize for resorting to this method of keeping in touch with friends in the Northeast. When no one responded negatively to our annual summaries, we finally stopped apologizing.
Actually, we began with photo-Christmas cards, sent from Ithaca, New York in 1961, the year after Debbie was born. This segment of CameosAndCarousels.com begins with copies of those photo-greeting cards from 1961 through 1969 and our move to Maryland. I’m pleased I kept copies; they do show the growth of our family from Christmas to Christmas – with Deborah (1961); Kenneth (1963) and Christopher (1965).
The annual Christmas letters had a choppy beginning. They became consistent following 1980, with only one omission (1985) over the last forty years! Karen and I alternated authorship over the years. You might find it a challenge to guess who wrote which ones, since the letters purposely exclude first person, singular pronouns. In 2008, the year of our fiftieth wedding anniversary, we included photos of the family for the first and only time. In 2009, Karen wrote our letter in the form of a poem. Each year since then, I have written the prose summarizing the year and Karen has composed a poem, usually blank verse, as her contribution to our greetings.
A consecutive reading of these annual Christmas letters is boring! Especially over the entire 40-year period. Part of the problem is that, for the last two decades, each year begins with a reference to national and international problems that negatively influenced our outlook on what had transpired as well as our hopes and prayers for the following year. Christmas should be a time for celebration of the Birth of the Messiah and hope for the Second Coming, the Advent, of Christ; it should not be a time for the despair which the secular world is producing. We have tried to be positive. This, perhaps, is the true intent of Karen’s annual poem: a prayer for the future.
It is suggested the reader scan the prose of these letters to get an idea of who has joined our family over the last four decades and what they have done during the referenced year. May you find the prayer-poems to be of greater value!
How does time get away from us? We wanted to write a personal note to each of you long before now. Instead we must now hope that you will not be offended by this effort. The sincerity of the greeting that we offer is no less in this note than if we were to correspond individually with you. A separation by hundreds of miles and many months leads us to miss especially in this season of friendship and good will.
This year of 1963 has been not only a kind one but also an adventurous one for us. Most of you know that we now have a son. Kenneth Andrew was born in April while we were still in Hanover, New Hampshire. (At the time, however, Pat was in Atlantic City at some scientific meetings.)
At the end of July we bid our Dartmouth friends a sad farewell and began our travels to the West Coast. On the way, our longest visit was in Niles and in Sandusky with our parents. We were very happy that we were able to make side trips to Ithaca, Kent, Canton, and Mansfield as well. It was disappointing that we were not able to spend more time in New York and Ohio to visit with more of you; however the pace we set for ourselves was rapid since we still had two thousand miles to go before we “rested.”
From Sandusky our route took us to Madison, Wisconsin for our first stop. The next night we pitched our tent in Jackson, Minnesota. We had planned to camp our way across the continent once we left civilization (west of Chicago). However, we had not thought that we were going to leave civilization so far behind. The area around Kadoka, South Dakota greeted us with a stiff wind and nary a tree in sight. The hard dry ground did not appear that inviting to us Easterners and so, shorn of the true pioneering instincts, we tender-feet frove on to an air-conditioned motel in Rapid City. The third morning out of Ohio gave us welcome relief in the wooded Black Hills. Mount Rushmore was inspiring and to be truthful, was one of the few attractions that we photographed. (Most of the natural wonders of our country are stored in our memories rather than on Pat’s slides.) We spent that night in Sheridan, Wyoming.
Very early the next morning we began our ascent of the Big Horn Mountains. The preceeding day we had wished for some hills to break the monotony of the Great Plains of South Dakota. Now our wish was granted with a true vengeance. Actually, going up was much easier than coming down. The view as you climb this introduction to the Rockies is truly breathtaking. It must also be admitted that the descent is breathtaking too. But Karen did not resort to shutting her eyes. In fact she probably saw more scenery than Pat who was interested in the next hairpin turn.
The beautiful mountains and lakes of Yellowstone Park were viewed with great admiration by both of us. We especially enjoyed the beautiful and numerous trees. (Both of us became “tree happy” on this trip as you can see. Never again will we complain about Ohio being uninteresting.) Debbie liked the bears in “Jellystone”. We’re still not sure that she wasn’t convinced that Yogi Bear was hiding from us and that we should have made special efforts to locate him. That night we stayed in Idaho Falls.
We were determined to get out of the potato state that day and we made it across the line to Ontario, Oregon. “Green Oregon” was far from green until we got to the Cascades. We’re really not sure whether these mountains are as beautiful as travelers say or whether it is just the joy of finally reaching them. But they are impressive. We must confess that when we passed Oregon’s 7800 foot Mount Washington we chuckled about New Hampshire’s “mile high” Mount Washington. Out her the passes are 5000 feet high. However we were happy to take the passes and reach Corvallis the afternoon of the seventh day.
The eighth day brought us to 563 Jefferson Street. This eight room house with its 30 foot living room is more than big enough to keep Karen busy. But it doesn’t prohibit her from going to the business section of the city which is only a block away from our elderly tree-shaded neighborhood. The only disadvantage lies in the lack of playmates for Debbie. However, she is happy with her nursery school friends. (She misses her North Park Street friends and say “hi”.)
Besides doing housework, Karen is able to sing two nights a week. Pat is busy in the lab. He is (for those who haven’t heard and wonder why we made this trip) an assistant professor in the Science Research Institute at Oregon State University. The work so far has been involved primarily with research, although some lecturing will come later. Since Karen escapes from the house by singing, Pat has decided to relax by taking a drawing course one evening a week. So you see, the Camerinos are a busy lot. This is our poor excuse then for the necessity of a “form letter”.
We would like to visit once again with all of you. Perhaps in this shrinking world we shall. If you ever visit this “Great Northwest” we would like to extend our welcome. Until that time you will be in our thoughts. We hope this past year has been a kind one to you; may the coming months bring you an even greater measure of happiness.
We’ve done it again. Once more, time has gotten away from us and the Holiday Season is here. Last year we received little criticism from you about our writing efforts. Perhaps you were being kind in the true spirit of the Time. We were impressed by the number who were so organized and so thoughtful to answer us. Although we seem to lack the organization to reply in kind, our warmest thoughts and hopes are offered to you.
We have done a number of other things again. As you can see from the address, we have moved from our large home to a more manageable one. We do not recommend trying to heat an eight room house with an oil furnace that has been converted from one that originally burned saw-dust. (Saw-dust furnaces are not uncommon in this part of the wooded U.S.) Since Debbie is now in kindergarten, we wanted a place close to a school. With all of our moving, we have yet to put up our Christmas tree in the same place as the year before.
Nor have we stopped yet. Pat has accepted a new position as a Grants Associate with the National Institutes of Health. We hope to move to Bethesda, Maryland (just outside of Washington, D.C.) in the middle of June. Although the move will take Pat out of active research and teaching and put him in the middle of administration, he is looking forward to the change. However, a second cross-country move is disconcerting. Right now the plan is for Karen and the kids to fly to Ohio. The third Camerino should arrive in Corvallis before then – but not much before. Perhaps the addition of an Oregonian to our New York – New Hampshire clan will give us an incentive to settle down.
The present family is continuing as usual. Karen is still singing Madrigals and whatever else comes along. Debbie is involved in kindergarten projects and withstanding the teasing of her young brother. This appears to be one of Ken’s major pastimes. Another is singing – in his own language since he seems to feel his words are every bit as good as ours. Karen’s singing did produce one unusual result. Pat was driving her and some others to Portland when the motor compartment of the microbus caught fire. We got out and watched it burn on the express-way until the fire department came. We are now driving a Chevy II station wagon. This did hinder our proposed second honeymoon trip to a resort on the Oregon coast. Although we never did get to the resort, we have gone camping at various parks along the coast. Camping is one of the things we will miss about Oregon; that and the Spring flowers. (We won’t miss the Apr., Mar., Nov., Oct., etc. rains that bring them – unless the East has another dry summer.
But our return will hopefully provide us with an opportunity to see some of you again. We hope that you have had a happy and rewarding year. We wish you an abundance of joy and prosperity in the coming months.
For the first time in ten years, you won’t have to change your address book to keep up with us. We’re looking forward to spending a second Holiday in the same home. And we don’t think we’re in a rut. In fact, we rather like it. However, this new role does have its disadvantages – or advantages depending upon your viewpoint. For example, a great amount of time last spring, summer and fall was spent in yard work – including Pat’s digging up several tons of rock, Rockville’s major element, to plant grass. Karen managed to get out of this task the hard way; our woods gave her five consecutive cases of poison ivy.
We did manage, however, to utilize our time more pleasantly last summer by trips to Ohio and New Hampshire to visit relatives and friends. Although the New Englanders kept apologizing for the cool weather, we had no objection to having it instead of Washington’s notorious humidity. We rented a charming home of a vacationing Dartmouth professor and had such an enjoyable week that we are now considering a similar vacation in Ithaca. Who knows, perhaps we might even make it to Corvallis one of these summers.
Upon returning to Maryland, the family became involved in the round of fall and winter activities. Karen, unfortunately, has diminished her efforts in singing. But her leisure time – that is, the moments allowed after keeping up with three energetic children – is now occupied with bridge, rug-hooking
Karen’s silk screen Christmas reindeer!
and silk screening. Not to be excluded, Pat has taken a course in oil painting. A few hours have been allotted by both of us for participation in a Great Books discussion group. The kids have not become engaged in group activities but have their unorganized fun anyway.
Deb, now in the fourth grade, is still in love with her classes; Ken has no complaints about his daily kindergarten sessions; and Kip keeps everyone busy just being Kip – a small package of dynamite. We shouldn’t exclude mentioning the new boss of the household – Felicia, a young but queenly cat.
On a family basis, this past year could be summarized as a routine, happy period with the usual minor problems and major pleasures of life. For them we are deeply thankful. We wish that these months have weighed as lightly on you as they have on us. May the coming days of the new year bring you contentment with life as it is and the courage to make it what it should be. We would join with you in praying and working for the fulfilment of those ancient but sill relevant words, “Peace on Earth to Men of Good Will”.
Greetings from the land of oil, cattle, warm weather, Astros and Oilers – and yes – traffic and smog and traffic and humidity and traffic! Hopefully you have had a good year as we have and we trust the coming one will be even better.
Our year began with Deb’s departure for Europe in January. She spent a semester headquartered in London but with lots of time for side trips to Paris, Rome, Sweden, and all over England. She had a great time and came back with stories and photographs galore. We couldn’t make the trip this time, but it’s still in the forefront of our daydreams for the future. Deb is transferring to Trinity University in San Antonio next semester and should be able to finish in a year. Her major remains Theater – but she plans to stress the playwriting and directing side of it.
Ken will graduate this spring and is in the throes of making decisions on colleges and majors. At this writing he is looking at Tulane, Texas A&M, and the University of Texas – with a probable major in some phase of engineering. Ken has been active in church youth activities this year and has kept up his interest in choral music. He entered the state competition in vocal music this year for the first time and placed in the top eight second tenors in our part of the state.
Next fall will see us a three-car, one-son family! Kip is completing his sophomore year at Spring High South. (Weirdly enough, the school is changing its name to Westfield High next year, so Kip will be a Westfield Mustang instead of a Spring Lion when he graduates!) Kip just finished his fourth year as a football manager this fall. It is a mixed blessing to consider that he’ll be driving next year and there won’t be a carpool. If we have a “native” Texan in the family it’s Kip – even down to trying Skoal and Copenhagen! He’s having a good year and generally has a fresh batch of battle scars every weekend from the never-ending neighborhood football games.
As for Pat and Karen, we are happier and more involved than ever – mostly in Church work and in Marriage Encounter activities. We’ve finished a year of team-teaching a confirmation class and are at present acting as parish contacts for couples planning marriage, as well as serving as ministers of communion at Sunday Mass. We still commute together – actually Deb joined us for six months while working at the Texas Medical Center – and it makes the extra 10+ hours a week slightly more bearable. Karen is still keeping out of trouble by being Jill-of-all-trades for a priest and a sister in the Diocesan Office of Vocations. Pat is still working hard and profitably at Baylor College of Medicine. We have grown to appreciate the good things about Texas – not the least of which are warm winters and friendly, patriotic, God-loving people (of course a lot of them are displaced Yankees like us!).
We love you all and keep you in our thoughts and prayers this Christmas. May we see you soon!
We had such good intentions this year about getting our Christmas cards mailed early! As usual, procrastination won out! However, we have received several cards with new addresses from old friends, so maybe there’s a method to our madness.
This has been a very busy year for us. Deb has been finishing her college work at Trinity (San Antonio) in the Theater Department and will graduate this Friday, December 18! What excitement for all of us! She intends to remain in San Antonio after graduation and is beginning to look for a position for the new year. She has been taking many interesting courses from ‘deviant behavior’ to geology to comparative religions to playwriting. What fun!
Ken is a freshman at Texas A&M this year, majoring in electrical engineering. He is kept busy with the Newman Club, Century Singers, College Bowl quiz team, etc. If it weren’t for the 18 class credit hours he’s taken this semester, he’d probably be doing even more! It’s nice for us to have him only 1 ½ hours away by car.
Kip is a junior at Westfield High School and has just finished another season as varsity football manager. At the present time, he is earning some spending money a a ‘sacker’ at Randalls Supermarket. We think he has some idea of buying a car in the near future. Meanwhile, he’s having a good year.
Pat and Karen are very involved in church work these days. Pat was elected to the first Parish Council at Christ the Good Shepherd and Karen is a worship coordinator for Sunday Masses. We are also involved in teaching and coordinating a preparation class for young adults interested in Baptism, Confirmation and first Eucharist. We have put many of our Marriage Encounter commitments on the back burner for the time being, but are still active in our sharing circle. Pat has moved his office at work to the main Baylor building and is having a ball ‘playing’ with his new computer. Karen is still working in the Office of Vocations for the Diocese of Galveston-Houston. We are busy, happy – and now and then – tired! We really enjoy our life in Houston, but we do wish more of you would make the trip down here to visit. We traveled home to Ohio this past summer – now it’s your turn!
Every year we think we will have the time to start early and write individual and personal notes of immense length to y’all and every year the time gets away from us and we resort to this form of letter. We want you to know we think of you often even if we don’t write, and that we look forward to this opportunity to let you know how special you are to us.
Pat and Karen are as involved in church work as ever – if not more so. Pat is in his final year of preparation for ordination to the Permanent Diaconate. For those of you who aren’t Catholic – and probably for some who are (!) – Permanent Deacons are ordained Catholic clergy and serve in many of the same ministries as priests. They preside at marriages, baptisms and funerals; they read the Gospel and give homilies at mass; they serve with the priest at the altar during Mass. What they are not permitted to do is to hear confessions and to preside at Mass. Currently, there are around 150 deacons serving in the Diocese of Galveston-Houston and another 40 to 50 who are candidates. It is an exciting new opportunity for married men to serve as Catholic clergy, and at the same time it involves the cooperation and participation of their families. Pat and Karen spend most of their free time in study (Karen attends all of Pat’s theology, history, etc. classes) and in Church ministry. It givs their lives a lot of purpose and they are very happy about what the future holds for them.
Pat is still working at Baylor College of medicine as Director of Faculty Services. He likes it very much, even if there are never enough hours in the day to get everything done. Karen still works for the Vocations and Propagation of the Faith offices as secretary, bookkeeper, administrative assistant and flunky. It’s a good place to meet great people.
Deb is living in San Antonio after graduating last December from Trinity University. She works at the Trinity University Library. She seems happy and busy there and likes the slower pace of San Antonio (who can blame her!).
Ken is returning to Texas A&M in January and is thinking of changing his academic major to Accounting. He’s been working part-time at The Cornpopper – would you believe 32 flavors (!?) – from “Bacon & Egg” to “Pina Colada”!
Kip is a senior at Westfield High School. It seems likely that he’ll be going to Southwest Texas University in San Marcos or Sam Houston State U. in Huntsville next fall – both small schools in small towns. He’s doing well academically and socially – all in all a good senior year.
So – next year it’s Pat and Karen alone again. Our 25th anniversary is in June and it seems we’ve come full circle. Life has been very good to us – weight and grey hair notwithstanding – and we keep finding new joys and challenges each year.
We hope your year has been a good one. Know that you’ll be in our thoughts and prayers in 1983. Have a wonderful Christmas!
This year there are no apologies for our annual letter. We’ve been doing them too many times out of necessity (because of our tardiness in getting out personal letters) that it has now become routine to be late! Although they are “form” letters, we hope you know that we intend them to be more than junk-mail. Our love and concern for you is present, even when it is word-processed. This is especially true this year, a year of great personal happiness for us, yet one of general unease for so many we know and care about. We would like to share some of that joy with you; it would be better done through hugs and smiles than in mere print, however, our gratitude for the good in life is there … as well as our prayer that what is now in turmoil will be calmed during this Season of Hoped-for Peace and Goodwill. We have all undergone change during these past twelve months; in most ways that change has been growth in spirit.
Kip was graduated from Westfield High School, the first class to do so, and has entered Southwest Texas State University in San Marcos. (The school’s most noted alumnus had the initials LBJ.) He is currently considering to be a geography major: something had to be put down! Since a young lady in whom he has an interest is a senior at Westfield, he is in Houston almost as much as in San Marcos.
Ken continues to be a loyal Aggie, i.e. a creature who is associated with Texas A&M University. He has lived and worked in College Station during the fall semester and will be enrolled in January as a psychology major, having tasted both electrical engineering and business administration. He is involved as much as possible in singing and in the Newman Center, the Catholic student group.
Deb remains a Texan by residing in San Antonio, where she has an apartment and a job as a librarian in the city system. Now that she has a full time job and the money to go with it, she may become more hedonistic than she has been thus far.
The main event for Pat and Karen this year has been the celebration of their 25th wedding anniversary. The whole family was in town for the renewal of their vows at a special Mass celebrated in their parish, Christ the Good Shepherd. Once the younger ones were back in their own parts of Texas, the older pair went on a two-week vacation in England, Wales and Scotland … an adventure they have been waiting for a long time. With a well-used Britrail pass, they went from London to Penzance (no pirates but as far west as possible in southern England), on to Bath, Cardiff, York, Inverness (as far north in Scotland as one can readily go), and Edinburgh. It would be difficult to say what were the most enjoyed and remembered parts of the journey. All of the cathedrals seem to run together after a while; but Pat took 18 rolls of film to help sort it out. (So far, none of their friends have seen the results; Pat doesn’t know why!)
On the business side of life, Pat remains with Baylor College of Medicine; Karen left the Chancery/Vocations Office prior to the fall trip and is now working part-time in a Catholic bookstore in Houston. (It’s the only one; there is some doubt whether she gets paid in money or in books!)
A significant part of the year was consumed by more classes for Pat’s Diaconate. He will be ordained a Permanent Deacon on February 25, 1984. He still needs your prayers.
N.B. The reference to “general unease” is difficult to identify some forty years later. An Internet search for 1983 yields some references to bombings in Beirut, London, and the Senate-side of the Capitol Building. The U.S. invaded Granada. Japan had a major earthquake; there were fires in Australia. A nuclear war, by accident, with Russia was prevented. The Soviets shot down a Korean jetliner. There were riots in Seattle. The AIDS virus had been identified. All-in-all, it seems like a typical year, albeit, one for the twenty-first century rather than the last decades of the twentieth.
It scarcely seems possible that so much has transpired since our last Christmas letter. The year began on a sad note but the months of 1984 have brought us joy. Pat’s mother died last December; her funeral Mass was on the morning of Christmas Eve. He and Karen flew to Ohio and combined the sadness of loss with the gladness of His Birth. Deb, Ken and Kip were present for a combined New Year’s Day/Christmas Day with improved expectations for the coming year. The greatest expectation was realized on February 25th when Pat was ordained to the Permanent Diaconate. The life-style for us hasn’t been dull ever since!
As a Permanent Deacon Pat has been involved in not only liturgical celebrations but also in adult religious education. Karen has been with him on every step of the way. It is difficult to say who has been the more involved in activities at their parish, Christ the Good Shepherd, what with Bible study classes, convert education, college ministry, marriage preparation, etc. Yet there has still been time for prayer and reflection – albeit, never enough. In July they managed a visit to Ohio and a week in South Bend, Indiana for work-shops at Notre Dame. Their vacation also consisted of a long weekend in San Diego in September, with as much golden-beach time as possible.
There has been so much to do that there has been little opportunity to fall prey to the empty-nest syndrome. Kip is now a sophomore at Southwest Texas State University; Ken is in his third year at Texas A&M; and Deb continues to reside in San Antonio where she answers questions at the information desk at the public library. (The rest of the family is reluctant to challenge her in a game of Trivial Pursuit!)
Pat continues to play with a new computer system at Baylor College of Medicine. Karen has left paid employment to engage in almost a full-time occupation in the parish. Except for the salary, Karen seems to have the better deal. She is our expert on the Old Testament and is rapidly becoming one on the New; she is also very active in writing prayer services and has been accused of writing Pat’s homilies/sermons (at least the “better” ones)!
In summarizing 1984, it seems that little has occurred which can be easily tabulated. Yet there has been much peace and contentment, values which can not be measured but nevertheless pervade everything and make all of it worthwhile. We hope that this has been true for each of you as well. The tangible accomplishments may seem insignificant – or even non-existent – in themselves, but the spirit of peace is there and the sense of growth is ever present. May your growth, too, continue in the coming months. May your beauty shine forth in this Season and throughout your life.
