Category: Christmas Letters

Dear Friends,

Christmas is almost here again. It’s hard to believe a year has passed. With those of us who have left the fifties behind and have embarked on the journey to wisdom and serenity (hopefully!), the time passes more swiftly with each season. We are not frequent correspondents and Christmas affords us the opportunity to let you know that you are loved and remembered – even if we don’t tell you often enough!

This year has been marked with many joys and a few struggles. In March, Karen was diagnosed with breast cancer and had a mastectomy. Fortunately, no chemotherapy or radiation was required and she is doing very well. We believe the Lord never lets an experience go to waste if we are open to the possibilities; and it seems ever since March, people suffering with cancer have come Karen’s way and have enlarged her ministry. She is still on the staff of the Cenacle Retreat House and loves it. Pat continues at Baylor College of Medicine and tries to work at home as often as his schedule permits. He also serves as a permanent deacon and is kept busy with teaching, marriage preparation and preaching. Retirement from Baylor is still a few years away, but he won’t have any trouble filling his spare time.

The “kids” are all well. Ken and Tracey have bought a new home and are busy making it perfect. Their three children, Jordan (5), Dillon (3) and Christina (1) are wonderful, beautiful and energetic; they keep their parents (and grandparents) hopping. Ken has recently changed jobs but remains in computer documentation. Chris and Kelly are still teaching, although Kelly has moved to a different school district. In spite of tight schedules and endless hours for Chris as a coach, they thrive on it. Their girls, Kirby (4) and Kennedy (2) are also terrific and gorgeous. Deb and Joe continue to live in San Antonio where they, too, have bought a new home and, like the others, are striving towards perfecting it, especially the landscaping. Deb has moved to the main branch of the city library system where she answers all sorts of weird questions. Joe is the librarian at Providence High School. Their season tickets to the Cowboys games and their full house of two dogs and three cats keep them occupied.

In October, we did manage to get away for a two-week trip to Greece and Turkey. It was part-cruise and part-land-travel. We saw some places we haven’t seen before and enjoyed them immensely: Santorini, Mykonos and Delphi. It was also good to get back to Istanbul, Ephesus, Rhodes and Athens. We have decided that cruises really need to be longer than a week in order to relax completely, especially when jet lag is waiting at the end.

We love our new (one and one-half year old) house in Cypress among the horses, cows and goat farms … but not within smelling distance! We encourage y’all to drop by and stay awhile.

Know that you are in our thoughts and prayers this season. May you have a wonderful Christmas and a new year filled with joy.

Dear Friends,

This year Christmas comes to Houston in a blaze of reds and golds. Unlike many of you we cannot look forward to a white Christmas with every card we write. But this year we have been blessed with New England foliage. A few weeks ago our temperatures took an unusual drop into the high thirties before rebounding to the low 70’s. It was enough to eliminate the chlorophyll and allow the reds and golds to break through. They bring back so many fond memories of the days we spent with many of you in years gone by. We wish we were able to be with you now, in person, to tell you how much we love and miss you. Instead these mere jottings will, once again, have to suffice.

It is also time to sum up this past year. In general, it has been a good, stable one. Karen remains a cancer survivor, for which we give great thanks. Pat continues to survive trying to keep 1,500 faculty members relatively content with administrative “stuff.” His thanksgiving will come upon retirement one of these years.

A major event was again the birth of a grandchild, the sixth. Thomas Joseph joined his brothers Jordan and Dillon and sister Christina in September. Ken and Tracy continue to thrive among the managed chaos.

Chris, Kelly and their daughters, Kirby and Kennedy, now do their own thriving in a new, larger house just outside of The Woodlands, Texas. They have more trees but we still like our own place in the country. (In case you’ve noticed, few Houstonians actually live in Houston.)

Deb and Joe continue to landscape and re-do their own home in San Antonio in between answering librarian-type questions put by adults and teenagers seeking knowledge, if not wisdom.

Karen and Pat still attempt to respond to spiritual and theological inquiries at the Cenacle Retreat House, for her, and Christ the Good Shepherd Catholic Community, for him. We hope that there is some wisdom as well as information in what we offer.

Once more, we took time away from Houston and the U.S. We were fortunate enough to spend two weeks in October touring castles and cathedrals in England and Wales. For the ruins we recommend Carnarvon Castle in Wales and for the “modern” look, you can’t beat Windsor. For cathedrals there are Winchester, Salisbury and York; take your pick; we liked them all.

Yet it is good to get back home, kick off our shoes and relax. We hope that such happiness and simple joys are yours as well. As the years pass, we seem to be mellowing out … which sounds better to us than the urging to “chill out.” We sincerely hope that you, too, are finding peace and tranquility in your lives as we approach the new millennium. As this century tumbles towards closure, we wish you a wonderful Christmas and a new year filled with joy.

Dear Friends,

It’s a little difficult, even after all of these years in Texas, to get into the holiday spirit when the temperature is still in the eighties. But this condition is better than the floods of October and November. Our neighborhood had some impassable streets and we needed creative routes to get to the main highways, but we did survive better than some, for which we are grateful. One flood is more than enough for us, even though there are Houstonians who live through them on almost an annual basis. We are indeed pleased that we moved from “Ponderosa Forest” to “Longwood” three years ago. (Yes, that really was the name of our subdivision for the first eighteen years in Houston!) Given our current plans, we are looking forward to our future years in Longwood, or Cypress Texas if you prefer the town to the subdivision.

Pat’s plans, in concert with further restructuring at Baylor College of Medicine, call for him to “retire” as of July 1, 1999. This is one way to beat the Y2K problems, providing the TIAA/CREF system that writes the retirement checks makes it into the next millennium. Regardless of all the dire predictions for the end of next year, we are looking forward to the days of this millennium and the next. We hope you are too as we enter this countdown period.

With Pat’s retirement, we intend to continue, if not increase, our travels. This last year we were in Ohio for Pat’s 45th high school reunion. Karen spent the time with her female relatives searching for and finally finding Greer Ohio and their Swank – Fulmer roots. This has been an annual quest for a number of years now. Yes, it would have been easier to have used an Ohio map; but then the challenge would have been gone. She now needs another quest.

In addition to the Ohio vacation there was also an extended wedding for the son of a dear couple in Beverly Hills. We could write an entire letter on that experience. But if we did, an even longer journal would be needed for the two weeks we had in Italy in October. We began with Venice and the Italian Alps. The next week took us to the Italian Riviera and finally to Florence. It is remarkable just how many churches and museums two people can see if they are determined. (Pat has five hours of video tapes which he has not yet dared to show to “friends” or people he would like to keep as friends. Karen bought him a computer program for editing video tapes and that is to be one of his “retirement” projects. Those who might visit us after July 1, 1999, are now forewarned. This might encourage you to see us before then.)

Karen is still very active with The Cenacle Retreat House as a spiritual director and a trainer of spiritual directors. Her plans call for her to continue this journey along with her ministry to those with cancer.

Our six current grandchildren continue to amaze and amuse us. Jordan and Kirby have begun first grade. Their brother and sister Dillon and Kennedy are looking forward to joining them for full days for school. Christina and Thomas, siblings of Jordan and Dillon, have a few more years to wait, even if it is impossible for them to really “wait” for anything!

Ken now works for BMC, a computer company. Tracey works for Jordan, Dillon, Christina, Thomas and a sister-to-be-named. Chris continues to teach, although this year’s chemistry is not preferred to the biology of the past years. (The same goes for the football team he coaches.) Kelly still focuses on the mathematical side of education. Deb and Joe remain as librarians in San Antonio, although the ratio of books to electronics may be shifting.

And so another year rushes to its conclusion … along with the century and the first two thousand years of celebrating the birth of the Christ child. This is what this letter is really all about. The celebration of the coming into our lives of the Son of God, calls us to remember you, our friends who have come into our lives at some time in the past and who remain in our hearts and memories. Once more we wish you the joy of this Day of Celebration … and of all those to come.

Dear Friends,

The end of year, century and millennium approaches. You may be as bored as we are with the wrap-ups, summaries and listings of what has been best for the last 100 or 1000 years. Back in the good ol’ days of the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s when we first met many of our long-lived friends like you, none of us gave much thought to being around for the year 2000, let alone being concerned about something called the Y2K bug. We were more interested in surviving the current year, hoping for the best in the next and keeping up with our VW bug. (Ours was gray before we graduated to that first yellow minibus which burned up while we were living in Oregon. When was the last time you played the game of trying to remember, in order, the models and colors of the vehicles you drove over the past four or five decades? Our first car was a ‘57 black and white Fairlane 500!)

Yes, it is the time for nostalgia and reminiscing about all of those events of our life. For us, looking over Christmas letters from years ago has been a blessing. The first is dated 1963. Pat, as you might suspect, is reluctant to discard anything that might be “important” to us at some unknown time in the future; but then, Karen has the better memory (as most wives do.) There are also those old photograph albums and the boxes of slides that never made it into the cartridges buried in the back of the closet. They help in stimulating warm reflections on where we were when we first met you. So as we wrap up whichever interval is worth celebrating, year, century or millennium, there are those personal time capsules we cherish because they remind us of our friends and relatives who have journeyed with us. It’s for this reason that we continue to write (keyboard!) these annual Christmas letters.

We are hoping that there will now be more time for such reminiscences, since Pat has, as of July 1, retired from Baylor College of Medicine. During the last two weeks of June he went on his vacation and never went back to work. For those of you who have not yet begun this new life, you might consider this method of beginning. He maintains that this is the way to do it. He also keeps on saying that every day feels as if it were a Saturday. (For those of you who have been there, when does this “feeling” end?)

That June-July “vacation” included a week in South Bend and a workshop at Notre Dame in spirituality. Karen is still devoting much of her time to spiritual direction at The Cenacle Retreat House in Houston, although she maintains she is “cutting back” in order to have more “free time” like Pat’s. The post-Notre Dame visit included a week in Ohio visiting friends and relatives and seeing old favorites (Kent State) and new ones (the Amish country.)

This Ohio trip was a prelude to our annual “big trip.” During two weeks in September-October we were on a river-boat cruise from Vienna to Amsterdam. It was relaxing to be on the Danube (not quite blue), the Main and the Rhine with their 73 locks (but no bagels.) We lost track of the bergs and burgs along the way. However, Regensburg, Nurnberg, Bamberg and Heidelberg are stand-outs. Karen took over 20 rolls of photos; Pat managed to record only six hours of video which he hopes to edit to two hours with a computer program he is finally getting around to using. He would be farther along in his cinematography if he were not also involved in additional parish work (preparing couples for marriage), in rose gardening and in taking Spanish classes at a local community college. (This is “retirement?”) Karen has continued with her CanCare (cancer) ministry and with a Labyrinth meditation that traces its history back to the Cathedral at Chartres.

Being grandparents has also taken on new meanings … along with a new grand-daughter, Victoria Elizabeth, who has joined Jordan Michael, Dillon Andrew, Christina Noel and Thomas Joseph in Ken’s and Tracey’s family. Chris and Kelly continue to be involved with Kirby Michele and Kennedy Lane. Computers for Ken and teaching for Chris and Kelly keep them otherwise occupied. Deb and Joe maintain their library work in San Antonio and road trips to Dallas for the Cowboy games.

Thus, another page is added to our personal time capsule, a capsule also filled with love and affection for all of those who have made this passage of time so worthwhile, so filled with joy and warmth. As we rush towards the closing of one series of doors, we eagerly await the opening of many others. May the new days be as warm and bright as the ones we have already spent with you. As Christmas Day approaches, we again wish you the joy and the rejoicing found in the Celebration of the One who continues to make all of this possible.

Dear Friends,

Remember last December when some of us were so concerned about Y2K? New Year’s Day went by with more of a whimper than a bang, thank goodness! Now here we are in mid-December and as of this date we still don’t know the name of the next president! We hope by the time you receive this note, all will be resolved and the 200 lawyers will have moved on to other cases. We must be getting old. We remember the ‘good old days’ when we knew with some certainty on Wednesday who had been elected on Tuesday.

We have had a good year. Pat hasn’t missed commuting to the Medical Center at all, and Karen has enjoyed having him around the house – even if he spends much of that time wooing his computer! He has been very involved in the marriage preparation aspects of parish ministry, on both the parish and diocesan levels. At any given time, he is working with some l5 or so engaged couples, as well as teaching several courses at the parish. We wonder how he ever had time to hold down a full-time paying job.

Karen is still spending much of her time at the Cenacle Retreat House, teaching, doing spiritual direction and facilitating days of prayer and retreats. It’s not full time, but sometimes it feels that way! She really has cut back on the teaching aspects of her job in order to make time to be with Pat more, to travel and to explore new avenues for future ministry.

Of course, we are blessed by having our children and grandchildren close by. At present we have seven of the most beautiful, talented and brilliant grandchildren ever created – no bias here at all! Ken and Tracey are expecting number six next summer. We never cease to be impressed with their parenting. If anyone can handle a family that large, they can do it with grace and skill. Chris and Kelly and their wonderful daughters, Kirby and Kennedy are also a source of joy for us. When all of us are around, including Deb and Joe who are still living in San Antonio, we have joyful chaos. We have been tempted from time to time to consider moving back to a state where there are fall leaves, winter snow and crisp evenings, but with all the kids and grandkids here in Texas, we’re here to stay. We remember too well our own children growing up without much contact with our parents and we’ll do whatever we can to be close at hand while our children’s children grow up.

Our annual trip this past year was one of the best ever! We spent three weeks in the Alps, the first week in Stresa, Italy, the second in Gstaad, Switzerland, and the final week in Seefeld, Austria. Each place was filled with beauty, history and time to relax and explore. Perhaps our favorite side trip was to take the lift to the top of a mountain in Austria and watch while several parasailors took off below us. We visited Oberammergau, Germany and bought a lovely handcarved nativity to add to our collection. We also bought some nativity figures in Austria – an unusual group dressed in Tyrolean outfits (the three wise men are wearing top hats, black suits and knee britches!).

We are doing pretty well, health-wise, although we’ve added eyeglasses and pillboxes to our list of indispensable take-alongs. Karen will celebrate five years of being cancer-free in March, 2001. We never know what life will reveal in the next year, but God has been very good to us in our 42+ years together and we look forward to the next years with anticipation and trust.

We wish you – our relatives and very special friends – a blessed and joy-filled Christmas and a wonderful New Year. Our thoughts are with you often, even if we limit the words to these annual letters.

Dear Friends,

Thanksgiving Day has passed (although the days for giving thanks remain) and so it’s time to write our annual Christmas letter. A decade ago, we began with references to foreign sites that had suddenly become important in our lives: 1989, Berlin; 1990, Baghdad; 1991, the nations of the USSR; 1992, Mogadishu, Bosnia-Herzegovina. Today, we add Afghanistan. Two years ago we were worried about the Y2K “bug”; today, anthrax. A year ago we were puzzled about who would be declared to be the actual President of our country; today we are puzzled by the actions of our country … in national security, in civil liberties, in economics, in peace and in war. Only one event remains constant: our trust that the One whose birth we still celebrate will continue to be with us regardless of the other changes in our lives.

For the 17th consecutive year, our parish of Christ the Good Shepherd has sponsored an interfaith Thanksgiving service in which we have, personally, been deeply involved. An integral partner in this has been our neighbor: Congregation Jewish Community North. Over the years we have been joined by ministers and people from local Baptist, Methodist, Presbyterian, Lutheran and Episcopalian communities. This year’s service began with a reading from Ecclesiastes:

“There is an appointed time for everything, and a time for every affair under the heavens. A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to uproot the plant. A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to tear down, and a time to build. A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance. A time to scatter stones, and a time to gather them; a time to embrace, and a time to be far from embraces. A time to keep, and a time to cast away. A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to be silent, and a time to speak. A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.”

We, ourselves, have experienced many of these “times” over the last twelve months.

A joy-filled time was the birth of our eighth grandchild, Olivia Dominique, who joined Jordan, Dillon, Christina, Thomas and Victoria, along with her cousins: Kirby and Kennedy. We have been saddened by the deaths and sudden accidents befalling dear friends. We have been thankful for the quick recovery of Jordan from surgery to correct a lung problem.

We have been pleased and invigorated by our spiritual work … Pat with preparing young couples for marriage and witnessing their weddings; Karen with preparing and offering days of prayer and reflection at the Cenacle Retreat House. It seems that Pat, although increasing his parish activities, still has time for personal fun in his retirement and Karen, by decreasing her involvement with the training of spiritual directors, has opportunities for personal growth and enjoyment. Pat has taken on the “project” of archiving old photographs and slides onto his computer; Karen of completing good, ol’fashion albums for “hard-copy” recollections.

In addition to helping Tracey raise six excellent grandchildren, Ken continues as an “information architect” with PentaSafe, a software company devoted to computer security. Chris and Kelly are involved in the education of our other two excellent grandchildren and undertake other teaching tasks with biology and mathematics students at Oakridge and Klein Oak high schools, respectively. Deb remains as a librarian in San Antonio while Joe attempts to adapt to a new position as a librarian in Nashville, TN. (Only time will tell whether they become attached to the Titans or Texans!)

This year’s travel for us has been “domestic.” There was a two-week Alaskan land-tour and cruise. Pat became fascinated with 24 hours of daylight; unfortunately during those long days, we saw only a few small creatures. (The elk, moose, bears, whales, etc. must have gone south for their own vacation in July.)

Karen planned on going with Deb for an Ohio visit in mid-September, but other events precluded a trip then. However, the two of us did get away for a weekend where Pat was honored as a distinguished alumnus of Niles McKinley High School. A major pleasantry of that trip in late September was our opportunity to see the foliage change in northeastern Ohio. We really do miss it; but we miss seeing our friends even more.

Yes, there is a time for everything, for every change. Yet we do not wish to change in our warm thoughts and recollections of what you mean to us … and will continue to mean … as we move forward into the uncertainties of the next part of our journey with our Companion for the way of life … our life and His whose birth among us we celebrate this season … and all seasons.

Dear Friends,

Advent is a season during which we are encouraged to wait in hope for the coming of the Christ-child into our homes and into our hearts. This year, we find ourselves torn between this very real hope and the darkness which creeps over our world. It brings to mind Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s words to the traditional Christmas Carol: “I heard the Bells on Christmas Day.” The second verse reads: “And in despair I bowed my head. ‘There is no peace on earth,’ I said, ‘for hate is strong and mocks the song of peace on earth, good will to men.’”

With each passing day, our prayer is that calm heads will prevail and that war will be avoided. As Jimmy Carter said when accepting the Nobel Peace Prize: “Sometimes war is a necessary evil, but even when it is necessary, it never ceases to be evil.” It is our hope that we will some day live in a world where war is never considered necessary, but only evil.

As far as family news is concerned, we continue to be healthy, busy and happy: Karen with retreat work, days of prayer, and spiritual direction; Pat with marriage preparation, teaching religion classes, and (for retirement fun) computer projects. We spent 2 ½ weeks in France in April. We had a wonderful time in Paris, the Loire Valley, and cruising down the Rhone River. Given the economy, we will probably travel domestically next year – perhaps along the Eastern seaboard.

Deb and Joe are doing well with libraries and menageries (two dogs and three cats). Joe is the new director of the library in Boerne, Texas – a charming, small town – and Deb is a reference librarian at the main San Antonio library.

Ken and Tracey and their six beautiful kids are doing well. They are home schooling the oldest four this year. We stand in awe of their courage and commitment. Ken’s software company merged with one from California and he is adjusting to the new policies and procedures here in Houston.

Chris (Kip) and Kelly have had some struggles this fall. Kelly was diagnosed with breast cancer and had surgery in November. From all indications, they caught it early; treatment will be minimal and recovery assured. We are truly thankful for the early diagnosis. In a different kind of “struggle” – the Oak Ridge football team, for which Chris is an assistant coach, made it to the state semi-finals for its division.

To all our friends and relatives, may this Christmas bring you personal joy, and may the coming year be one of happiness and many blessings.

Dear Friends,

Last year we began our annual letter with a heart-felt hope for peace … for a desire that war could be prevented or shortened. Our desires were not to be met as the killings continue and no true conclusion is in sight. We have, nevertheless, survived another year and can only hope and pray, as we have in the past, that people can learn not only to accept differences but to celebrate them as well.

Our personal lives continue with anticipations we have held over the years. We preserve both our hope and our certainty that Emmanuel is, indeed, with us and will be with us on our journeys. Much has happened in 2003; these are our summaries.

While Joe has been serving as the new director of the library in Loveland, Colorado, Deb has had the opportunity of using their season tickets for “The Texans” to see several games with Karen (it’s called “female bonding.”) The rest of her time has been in directing several adult reading/discussion programs at the library in San Antonio and in remodeling their house in hopes of enticing the right buyers.

Ken and Tracey had minimal problems in finding someone to buy their house. In fact they sold it so quickly that they had to move into an 1,600 sq. ft. rental until their new home is ready (sometime between Christmas and New Year’s!) In the meantime they continue to home-school Jordan, Dillon, Christina and Thomas … while keeping track of Victoria and Olivia as well. All of this is the result of Ken’s finding a position with Mobius, Inc. a software company with headquarters in Rye, NY. (He tele-commutes from home … another reason for a new, larger, house.)

Chris and Kelly along with Kirby and Kennedy live a more quiet life … one that involves only teaching high school biology or mathematics, coaching football (they won the division title) or cheerleading … along with transporting, watching and encouraging Kirby in her basketball events and Kennedy with her acting talents. All of this helped them pass the time between Chris’ classes for his Master of Education degree (to be completed in 2004) and Kelly’s successful recovery from breast cancer surgery and treatments. (Her new hair looks great!)

Karen and Pat’s hair continues to turn grey; at least he is thankful that there still is some, considering the genetic possibilities. Our own aches and pains have been kept (relatively) at bay over the last year. Perhaps this is a result of prayer and our spirituality as we continue our ministries at the Cenacle Retreat House and Christ the Good Shepherd Catholic Community.

Despite these on-going events we did find time to visit Ohio in August (during the blackout) for Pat’s 50th high school reunion and to take a two week vacation in New England in early October, just in time to see the height of the fall foliage in New Hampshire, Vermont and Massachusetts, to visit the locations of former lives and to renew friendships. (A side trip to Washington DC and one to New York City … for a visit with cousin Donna … were bonuses.) We hope that next year will allow us a planned trip to see the Netherlands and Belgium during springtime.

In the days ahead we will continue to pray that the world can see the fulfillment of that promise made two thousand years ago … Peace on Earth to those of Good Will. In the meantime, we wish each of you peace and happiness in your own lives.

Dear Friends,

For the past forty-plus years we have looked forward to writing a Christmas letter. This year, however, there is a high level of apathy. It has been so long since we’ve been able to begin this summary with hopeful comments. The last somewhat positive beginning was in 1999 when we wondered about the Y2K bug! It’s with nostalgia we look back to a peaceful time in our history.

Yet we really have nothing to complain about on a personal level. (Perhaps, this too, has been part of the “problem.”) Much has been a continuation of previous years; and they have been good to both of us … as well as to our off-spring.

Deb has a new “house in the country” in Elmendorf, Texas, a southern “ex-urb” of San Antonio, where she remains with the SA library. She is surrounded by woods, cattle and other critters. Joe continues at his library near Loveland, Colorado. Their frequent back-and-forth visits provide vacation spots for both of them.

Ken and Tracey have also purchased a new home, albeit not in the country but by a suburban lake, and with an uncountable number of rooms. (As of Columbus Day, there is a seventh addition to the family: Damien Paul.) Two of the rooms are dedicated to home schooling: one for the older kids (Jordan, Dillon and Christina) and the other for Thomas and Victoria. Olivia learns everywhere else; no doubt so will Damien. Jordan, Dillon and Thomas are taking guitar lessons, while Christina is playing the piano. (Von Trapp family someday?!) Ken works on his at-home computer for his Rye, NY company.

Chris has completed work for his M.Ed. degree and is now an Assistant Principal at Oak Ridge High School, where he formerly taught biology and coached football. He claims he enjoys the administrative life and the lack of grading homework. Kelly still grades her mathematics papers in addition to supervising extracurricular events such as cheer-leading. Kirby will no doubt follow along, given her current cheer-leader and basketball activities. Kennedy continues to perform in plays and in general “cuteness.”

The oldest (or older) members of the clan had a most enjoyable two-week river cruise in Holland and Belgium in April, during tulip time in the low countries. There is little more overwhelming than fields of tulips, unless it’s chocolate! We encourage others of you to consider river-boat trips in Europe. (This is our third.) They have the advantages of other cruises (not needing to unpack every night) with the addition of fascinating, daily stops in towns and cities.

Pat has spent an inordinate amount of time reliving past trips by transferring, editing and adding musical backgrounds to camcorder results (now on computer-burned CDs.) Karen’s pastimes involve needlework; it helps keep the arthritis at bay. Both continue with religious/spiritual ministries at Christ the Good Shepherd and the Cenacle.

Perhaps it is because of these on-going interactions with young couples planning marriage and future lives together and with older folks wanting a deeper prayer-life that we have been able to counter this secular-apathy which pervades life in the late months of 2004. After-all, now is the time to celebrate the Birth of the One whose life began with angels singing: “Peace on Earth to those of Good Will.” We continue to hope such people do exist. We know that He does!

Dear Friends,

Needless to say, this has been an eventful year! For Asia with tsunami and earthquake. For the northeast with unnamed floods and the southeast with damage from Katrina, Rita and Wilma. With bombings and deaths continuing into the thousands in the Middle East, it is a difficult to think of peace on earth. And yet, we still express that hope and desire. Perhaps next year will be different.

In one major way the coming months will bring us a significant change. This is, in fact, the reason why you are receiving this annual message somewhat earlier, we hope, than in previous years. We have sold our house, as of last June, and are in the process of settling into a “retirement” community: Eagle’s Trace, an Erickson community, the first in Texas. Our new mailing address is: 102 Pecan Grove, Apt. 410; Houston, TX 77077.

Pat finally got tired of yard work: planting, weeding and feeding flowers. Karen had enough of feeding both of us; the complex includes one meal a day as part of the monthly fees (usually dinner.) Our own apartment has a bedroom, two studies, living room, kitchen and two bathrooms. The adjoining building houses two dining rooms, pool, fitness room, class rooms, work shops, convenience store, postoffice, bank, lounges and 24-hour medical facility. For those of you who are computer minded you can check it out at http://www.ericksoncommunities.com/eth/ So far it’s almost like living in a resort, or being on a continuing vacation.

Our last, actual vacation in April afforded us two weeks in Italy, one based in Sorrento, the other in Montecatini near Florence. Yes, we enjoyed it. (It was also interesting being in Italy when Benedict XVI was elected Pope!) Our other journey this year was to Dallas for a wedding, scheduled for the weekend Rita visited East Texas. We joined with several million other close friends for a 14-hour drive from Houston to Dallas! Fortunately we had no additional hurricane problems directly. The interim apartment where we lived between June and November had its share of evacuees from Louisiana.

The rest of our lives have continued in the same paths begun in previous years. Ken, Tracey and their seven kids (our marvelous grandchildren!) continue with home-schooling. Chris, Kelly and their two daughters (our other marvelous grandchildren!) continue with events in the Klein and Conroe ISDs. Deb and Joe continue with their bookish ways as librarians. Karen and Pat continue with their religious callings at The Cenacle and at Christ the Good Shepherd. Some might say we are all “in a rut.” But this is the way peaceful lives also continue. We have our health and we have sufficient resources to live with personal happiness much of the time (the brief periods for griping are, indeed, brief.)

We recognize our individual blessings, especially at this time of the year. We merely wish that the rest of the world could experience them as well. We sincerely hope that you, too, are feeling blessed by the One whose birth we still celebrate this season.