Merry Christmas in 2021!

Who would have guessed that the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Future would be the specter of Covid-19 again in 2021?

I thought that the surefire cure was the last election or a few more trillion dollars in federal spending.  We should have been so lucky.

In any case, I hope you enjoyed a wonderful year and came through it healthy and happy.  We did, although like most people, we didn't travel too much.

Amy and Lukas flew to Germany for his grandfather's funeral, or otherwise they likely would have never gone.  As it happened, they flew through Amsterdam and thereby slipped a few days of leisure travel through Europe into a busy year of working long hours remotely.  Amy flew to California in August to attend her long-time friend Laura's wedding, but we weren't there to host her.

The rest of our nuclear family plus significant others were in South Dakota.  Even Brooks, Darlene and their son Brooks joined us there.  With pet friendly lodging, little dogs JoJo, Teddy and Rizzo all came to the Black Hills.  Staggered arrivals resulted in JoJo's family and Teddy and Rizzo's family only seeing each other for one brief happy hour, but everyone had a good time in nature and dining out regardless of when they arrived.  One bright spot of the Covid-19 lockdowns is that Jay and Sasha were also able to work remotely, which they did every time they visited, banking vacation days.

Another sojourn with a staggered family reunion brought us to Seattle to visit Julie's sister Cheryl, who has been facing medical challenges.  Jay and Sasha arrived before us and stayed after we left, spending extra time with Cheryl's son Jered, while Gina and Amy flew in for a couple of days at the end of our stay.  Julie's other sister Jacque and her husband Mike arrived before Julie and me and left before our girls came.  They were accompanied by two of their daughters, Kendra and Kelsey, with their full families, who all shared a spacious rental house.  Once again, everyone seemed to have a nice trip, and I'm happy to say that Cheryl was in very good spirits and had good energy.

Had I not known she was fighting a serious malady, I would have thought Cheryl was doing better than last time I saw her.  

While in Seattle, Julie and I slipped in a nice visit with Seahawk super fans Mike and Linda Rood, who we hadn't seen since our South America/Antarctica cruise on which we embarked in January of 2020 just as Covid-19 raised its ugly head.

Two months later, Julie and I spent a pleasant day visiting Julie's brother John's family at their new estate in Franktown, near Denver, so we managed to spend time with all her siblings this year.

For Julie and me, the big news was that we sold our condo in Redondo Beach and bought a new house in Ardmore, Pennsylvania.  When we flew to Philly in July to close escrow, Emma was already off to summer camp in rural New Jersey, where she spent a full month away from home.  She had a great time despite knowing absolutely no one at the time she arrived.  We were all surprised to see her on livestream accompanying herself on piano while she sang a pop song in the talent show there.

It was wonderful spending a beautiful autumn in Pennsylvania with our granddaughter Emma and her parents, who live nearby and have always made us feel very welcome to be there.   

We had a family reunion at our new place with all three kids and their significant others the week before Thanksgiving.  A unique highlight was a Murder Mystery Dinner, where we donned costumes and played roles over the course of an evening.  During that same reunion, we celebrated the engagement of Amy and Lukas.

Jay and Sasha stayed on a few days after Amy and Lukas returned home to Jersey City to spend a few days before returning for Thanksgiving.

 

Because Amy lives in nearby Jersey City, we've also had the opportunity to spend more time with her.  For Thanksgiving, Lukas's parents drove down from upstate New York to spend a couple of days getting acquainted.  Laszlo's parents Z and Ria plus his brother Szilard drove in from New York for the feast itself, which was another happy gathering.

Julie and I had actually officially relocated from California to Montana effective February 1, so obviously we spent over half of the year there.  We enjoyed hiking even in the winter months.  We also got in some amazing skiing with Darlene and Brooks, who we visited often while in Big Sky.

Whereas California remained shutdown or Covid-restricted much of 2020 and 2021, Montana has been as free as California was when we were teens, although in seasons other than summer, Big Sky is obviously considerably colder than Orange County.  We were very grateful for that freedom, enjoying lots of terrific concerts and a few meals out in addition to mountain sports.

Despite moving from California where Jay and Sasha still live, we saw more of them in 2021 than in 2020, a testament to how inconvenient Covid-19 rules combined with traffic gridlock have made visiting loved ones in Los Angeles County.

Regardless of obstacles, Jay and Sasha took a second honeymoon in Bermuda, which they said was lovely.  In other news, Sasha left her position at UCLA to accept a considerably more lucrative data-crunching role at Capital Group, a financial services firm.

Our family is gathering up in Big Sky for Christmas, with the same attendees as in South Dakota.  We're enjoying great shared meals, games and skiing.

Overall, 2021 turned out to be another very good year for us, unfolding in its own unique way.  To see photos or read more about different aspects of the year, please click on any of the hotlinks above.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Wes, Julie and Family