Dear Family and Friends

I love the Christmas season; it’s a time for connecting with you to see how you are doing or how your children or grandchildren have grown. As I have said in past newsletters, we are so lucky to be here. The first thing I think about when the Christmas season rolls around is how much I miss Willie; he would have so enjoyed the sleigh ride we just had with his grandchildren. But this is not a season for sadness so I watch my Christmas movies on the Hallmark channel—no one gets killed ever and they always end with a kiss. What could be better than that?

I’ll be heading to Vermont to spend Christmas with Shana, and I hope to bring a suitcase full of presents and cookies. With our relatively mild weather, Christmas shouldn’t be like last year’s three-day blizzard. Shana and family had to rent a car and drive up from Detroit after their flight to Marquette was canceled. This normal seven-hour drive took them twelve. They arrived at 4 a.m. on the 23rd—harried, but here. We all bunked in with Shana at their Airbnb Christmas Eve as the blizzard raged on. Sounds like the makings of those Hallmark movies.

This year was full of travel for me. I missed my Arizona trip in early March because of a mild concussion I had after falling hard on the ice. (Be careful of black ice!) But by the end of March, I boarded a plane to Disney World with Scotti, Greenlea, Ozzie and close friends. I understand why they call it the Magic Kingdom. So much to see and do, I won’t even start to list them. But I would go again in a heartbeat for that one special ride (Soarin’ around the world) that takes you over the ocean, rivers and mountain passes, where you can smell the green grass as you see the meadows beneath your feet. Magical.

A quick update on Scotti, who is doing well post brain surgery. She meets with her main doctor at University of Michigan once a year for an MRI to monitor the tumor, and she meets every three months with another specialist who helps with procedures to control synkinesis (her facial muscles). Scotti can tell when the procedure is starting to wear off, but most of us would not notice her facial asymmetry. I don’t know that there is ever a good time to mention this, but Scotti’s divorce became final this past August. She is moving forward with as much grace as possible. She and I take turns driving Greenlea and Ozzie to school each morning. Great way for me to start my day. Since we are now talking about GO (as I refer to them), little Ozzie loves being in jr. kindergarten. He is such a chatterbox. He has picked up a saying from his teacher that he repeats to me: “You git whatcha git and you don’t throw a fit.” Ok, I got it!

Our budding actress Greenlea was in two youth theatre plays this year and a summer production at the Lake Superior Theatre. The two youth theatre plays had five performances at NMU’s Forest Roberts Theatre. In Charlie & the Chocolate Factory, she wore a mike (a big deal) as she played one of the ten divas and one of the 16 Oompa Loompas. In the summer production of Beacon on the Rock, she was one of only five children in this adult play at the Boat House in downtown Marquette. She played Anya Petroff, the loving and water watching daughter of Captain Petroff and was mentioned in the paper as one of the highlighted performances. Her voice started off the last song in the play before the adults joined in. You can imagine how special that was. Her last play took place just this past month; she played Tessie—one of the main orphans in Annie. Did Scotti and I go to every performance? You bet.

Since we are talking about grandchildren, I want to tell you about Pax and his performance at the USASA Snowboarding Nationals competition. This year Pax decided to compete in the All-Around category and to be in that category, he would need to qualify in all of the events: racing, slopestyle and half-pipe. (I’m getting better at understanding this new snowboarding terminology.) Although Pax is extremely hard working and talented, he was competing against the best kids in the country, where races can sometimes be determined by hundredths of a second, and he had attempted the super-pipe in Copper Mountain, Colorado, only a few times. So here’s what happened and I quote Shana: “It turns out that Pax, my tiny little monster . . . had the freaking fastest time on that first run. He had literally beat out all of the kids who had been consistently winning all season. What was even happening??” Of course, all the kids upped their game on the second run of the Giant Slalom, but when all was said and done, Pax won second in the GS, third in Slalom, eighth in Boardercross. Although he didn’t make it to the final round in slopestyle or half-pipe, he put down solid runs in both. And here’s the best part: At the end of that amazing week, Pax was announced as the third-place winner in the All-Around category. He did it! I’ve reread Shana’s post of that epic week and each time I can sense the anxiety Shana feels and the excitement and determination from Pax. It’s a great read: Weekend 4-8 on Themomedit.com.

Now speaking of epic, I am turning my thoughts to the trip to Biarritz, France, with Shana and family. She knows I don’t like to be away from camp in the summer, but I’m so glad I made this trip with them. Biarritz is a beautiful town in the south western part of France, known for surfing, amazing restaurants and great shopping. We didn’t need to shop, but we loved the food, and Raines especially enjoyed the surfing. Each day in Biarritz we would walk the four blocks from our Airbnb to the beach. I would watch as the family stopped at one of the many surf board rental places, and Raines would pick out his board for the day or sign up for lessons. Shana and I would get coffee and croissants or other amazing pastries and watch Raines do his thing. Pax and Mike would sometimes join him. It was exciting to see him catch a wave—because he loved it so much, we did too.

Like the other tourists in Biarritz, we would head out to eat between 8 and 9, often eating around ten and heading back home around midnight. As we walked home, the streets would be still teeming with nightlife. We had two meals in Spain, both amazing, but one that we took at the very beginning of our stay stands out. We crossed the border into Spain and took little winding roads to Benta Anttonen Restaurant high in the Pyrenees. The views were breathtaking. The seating was outdoor on granite tables and benches used during WWII. The food was simple, but so good—asparagus, Serrano ham, omelets and copious amounts of bread and Basque cake for dessert. This amazing experience was hosted by Shana and Mike’s friends, who are the owners of Café Lutecia in Philly. The chef grew up in Biarritz, and she and her family had dined at this out of the way restaurant for years. We could not have been more thrilled.

Scotti and I flew to Calgary for a most welcomed visit with Adam, Krysta, Jakob and Zach—first time in quite a while. They took us up a chairlift at Mt. Norquay; what a view as you will see from the pics posted on my website. We had one of those epic (that’s a good word this year) dinners. So many of us around the table, eating the amazing food that Adam cooks, enjoying the wine and laughing at the stories that are being told. I have so missed that. After our quick weekend with Adam, Scotti flew back to Chicago, and I flew to Nanaimo for a visit with Janice & Patrick. Love when there’s an Ostwald in the house.

I think 2023 was a pretty good year—a year of pursuing new adventures, enjoying visits with family, staying in touch with good friends, and experiencing relatively good health. I wish all of that for you, too. And as I always say, may you enjoy the gift of time with your loved ones.

Merry Christmas with love, Tina