Happy Holidays 2024
Happy Holidays! Joyful Solstice! Merry Christmas! Happy Hannukah! Best Wishes! Joyeux Noël! Vrolijk Kerstmis! Feliz Navidad! Kung His Hsin Nien bing Chu Shen Tan! Glædelig Jul! Gajan Kristnaskon! Hyvaa Joulua! Buorrit Juovllat! Gledileg Jol! Nodlaig Mhaith Chugnat! Buone Feste Natalizie! Gleðilega hátíð! Natale Hilare et Annum Faustum! Pozdrevlyayu s Prazdnikom Rozhdestva is Novim Godom! God Jul and (Och) Ett Gott Nytt! Season's Greetings! Peace!
I hope this greeting finds you well. It does us. 2024 has been a year full of fun and family and friends - and of course a bit of travel.
Our year started with a trip to Denver to share the holidays with our family. Bringing in 2024 with Peter, Erin, Frankie, Elliott and Madeline started the year perfectly for us.
But the trip to see the holiday lights at the Denver Botanic Gardens was perhaps the most photogenic part of that experience.
To say it was an amazing trip is a bit of an understatement. The breathtaking view from the deck of our first VRBO wasn't bad.
The New Zealanders were amazing, and you never knew what you'd find around the next corner. Here's the view from the rider's side of our car (which was confusingly on the "wrong" side for us) as we were driving along one afternoon.
We enjoyed the "gorges" views.
Waterfalls.
Trees growing out of lakes.
Marinas (we were after all traveling with sailors).
Kate and I stayed on for an extra week of "beach vacation," and for the most part had this beach to ourselves.
In family news, Madeline is continuing to enjoy her transition to librarian at Lapham Elementary School in Madison. She sent this photo the other day of her library transformation.
We can only hope that she will consent to reorganizing the library at our house to be as inviting as this.
Peter and Erin are raising two wonderful children (and a flock of Ironman flabingoes). And they have busy jobs which require travel now and then. This is perfect for us. We have had a few opportunities to get some precious quality time with our grandchildren and help their parents out a bit at the same time.
We've also been able to get some quality time at the cabin, with the whole family -
And with the members of the Royal Order of the Fez, with whom I've been hanging out for over half a century.
Times with friends are such a highlight, and help us keep somewhat on an even keel in this crazy world. The nine of us are now eight, which is sad. But what a blessing to have had such long and meaningful relationships with each of them and with the other people to whom we send this greeting.
Visitors to Saint Paul are always a special treat for us.
Stop by any time.
It seems that 2024 has been the year of the waterfall for us. We took a fall trip to the Finger Lakes and Niagara Falls, with lovely stops on the way in Wisconsin, Illinois and Ohio.
My friend Harry and I have made a September trip to the Boundary Waters since the early '80's. A highlight every time. But we are both large men and even we had to admit that mobility and strength limitations as we age made the safety of those trips less certain. So we changed things up and made a trip to London in late November to watch Arsenal play football (and to enjoy a foreign environment which guaranteed adventure but where we were reasonably safe).
Our seats were about 20 rows up from the goal (in an area where the fans - including us! - stood for the entire match). It was amazing, and at the end of the match the ball was kicked a few seats to our right. So friends and family watching the match at home could see that we were actually in attendance.
I guess everyone gets their 20 seconds of "fame."
Happy Holidays from our house to yours. Here's to a peaceful and joyful 2025.
Stan and Kate
Postscript: The best joke of the year award went to Kate this year! As we were walking in New Zealand she named this -
a 'Beach Tenderloin'. Hopefully the tenderloin we traditionally have on Christmas day will be tastier, if not as photogenic.
(Note: Photos may be enlarged by clicking on them.)
