Merry Christmas!

Dear Family and Friends,

It is nearing the end of 2016 and we wanted to share with you our past year and all the great times we have had. We are so thankful for every minute and can’t believe how fast the year has flown by!

It seems that most of the year was filled with lots of travel. We took 8 cruises to the Caribbean this year. Three of them were on the MSC Divina out of Miami which we enjoyed. We went to the Panama Canal twice this year. We were excited to cruise with our daughter and son-in-law on one of the cruises.  On two other cruises, we talked friends, who have never cruised before, into joining us on the trips.

We have gone on several camping trips in our Casita travel trailer. It is amazing how much exercise and nature we experience when we are away from home, the TV, and the internet.  In November, we were heartbroken when our favorite national park, The Great Smoky Mountains National Park, experienced devastating wildfires. Hopefully they will get back to normal and new growth will start in the spring.

We have gone on a fun road trip up north for a month. We visited Minnesota and Michigan in June. One of the fun places we stopped at was the Spam Museum (free) in Minnesota. Then I went to a weeklong knitting retreat (Don was my driver and my sherpa) and met up with 200 other fellow knitters. On the way home we went to Detroit to the Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village which were better than I ever imagined. We also spent a few days in Dayton, OH visiting the air museum, and surrounding area.

Due to our cruising, we have been lucky enough to be frequent visitors at my parent’s house. They are doing well at the ages of 97 and 91! We enjoy visiting them and playing cards every night.

In November, I reconnected with many of my college friends at our 35^th year reunion! Ten of us went out to dinner after the football game. It is fun to see how everyone is doing and sharing lots of great memories of our time together as undergraduates at Furman.

I’m still teaching the LD/ED practicum course for the graduate program at Furman University. I have been doing that for 9 years now and love every minute of it.

Don is still enjoying his postal collection and works with it while I am working with my yarn and fiber. 

I’m still excited about my spinning yarn and knitting items. It is still a magical skill that I can’t believe I’m capable of doing. I meet with friends once a week to knit and share stories about our week and I don’t think I would able to do all my crafting if it wasn’t for the encouragement and help.

We hope this year has brought you lots of good memories and happiness. We hope this coming year brings you lots of good health and happiness too.