I was a little nostalgic and began thinking about past Christmas’ we have spent together.  The picture is us in December of 1963. We will be spending our 46^th Christmas together as a married couple.  Our first Christmas was spent in Illinois in a small rental house.  We drove to the country and cut down a fresh 7 foot Christmas tree.  We decorated the tree with all silver ornaments and blue lights.  This year we will be in our motorhome in California.  We have a 3 foot artificial tree that sits on the dash of the motorhome and is decorated with small ornaments and multicolored lights that were already installed on the tree.  How times change.

Travels for 2008:  We toured northern California with our friends, Mark and Ilona who were visiting us from Michigan.  Sue went to Illinois for three weeks in February.  Sue was able to visit with family and attend the 50^th Wedding Anniversary of our friends, Dick and Barb.  In May, we traveled via motorhome to Pahrump, Nevada.  Mark and Marisa came up from Las Vegas  and Chuck traveled up from Phoenix.  Sue was thrilled to have her sons and daughter-in-law with her for Mother’s Day.  From there we went to Yosemite where we spent six days.  Sue traveled to Reno with Julie and Paige the end of May for a dance competition.  The end of August, Sue…do we see a theme here?  Sue traveled!...Sue went to Las Vegas for a couple weeks and dog sat while Mark and Marisa took a much deserved vacation to Hawaii.  In October, we took a spur of the moment cruise.  We booked the cruise on Wednesday and left from San Francisco on Friday.  We got a very good deal by booking late!  It was an eleven day cruise to the Mexican Riviera.  We loved cruising and are already planning our next cruise. 

Events of the year:  Sue lost her older brother, John to liver cancer this past February.  He had been battling cancer for several years.  She was able to spend a few days with him in Illinois before he died.   Brett graduated from middle school with honors and is now a freshman at Tracy High.  She went to soccer camp with the California ODP (Olympic Development Program).  She continues to excel at school and soccer.  In May, Paige finished her junior year at Tracy High as number one in her class of 647 students.  She is now a senior and is busy submitting college applications.  She is continuing to excel at school and dance.  She worked for the Obama campaign in October.  Kennedy is in the 7^th grade where she too excels in her studies.  She is in several clubs and on the yearbook staff at school.  Brandon is a senior at Hollister High and is busy submitting college applications.  He continues to excel at swimming.  He recently set a new personal record in the 1,000 meter race and will travel to Austin, Texas in December.  He was featured in the Monterey, California newspaper.  Jessica is a sophomore at Hollister High where she is in the top 25 in her class.  She still swims but has been putting more time into her studies and less time swimming.  She is a member of the high school swim team and they will begin competition in January.  Ryne will turn 20 in January.  He is in his second year of college.  This past year found him going through a lot of medical problems.  He was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis and is currently being treated by a doctor.  Skip continues to work with the Elks lodge here in Tracy.  His health is good except for those “old age” aches and pains of course.  He was bitten in his hand by a dog in May and has recovered nicely.    Sue has taken up the craft of quilting.  As they say, it’s cheap therapy.  She has sewn since she was a young girl but quilting is different.  She really enjoys picking out the fabrics and watching them become a beautiful quilt.  Chuck, Julie, Mark and Shelly are all busy with their careers and families.  We lost our beloved dog Lucas to cancer in October and we miss him terribly.

We have spent many wonderful hours with our family and friends this year.  All of those hours of just sitting around talking are very precious to us.  Those of you we couldn't see in person were in our conversations and our thoughts many, many times throughout the year.  We are so blessed to have all of you in our lives.  We wish you all a Merry Christmas and a healthy and happy new year.