Saturday, December 19, 2015

Our 2015 Christmas letter





Dear Friends and Family, 

We want to wish you a blessed Christmas and New Year. Here is a brief update of what's been going on with our family this year. 

Jonathan is now a teenager and is in grade 8 at Rideau Public School.  This will be his last year at Rideau -- truly the end  of an era.  This school -- in large part because of Jonathan's awesome EA, "Mr. O," who's been with him full-time since grade 2 -- has been a wonderful place for Jonathan to grow and learn.  Jonathan's main interests are doing puzzles, playing with balls, taking out the recycling, observing seagulls in the sky, watching DVDs, going to Extend-a-Family day programs, and taking walks by the waterfront and at Lemoine's Point.

 (Jonathan at Canoe Cove, PEI - photo by Richard Prinsen, August 2015)


(Jonathan with BFF, Nick, at Extend-a-Family summer camp, 2015 - photo courtesy of EAF)

Allison is 17 and in grade 12, so the coming year will be one of transition for her, too. She is hoping to study at Queen's next fall, perhaps focusing on English and/or Psychology. She is still an excellent student and an avid writer and reader, and she enjoys her youth group and social club each week.
 (Allison at Camp Iawah - photo by Allicia Bankuti May 2015)


Richard recently received his 25-year service award from Kingston General Hospital; he has been working there on the Orthopedic floor since 1990. He is still active in volunteer work and sports. In fact, he received a prize from the Kingston Road-Runners' Association for coming third in the Men's 50-59 age group.
 (photo courtesy of KGH, November 2015)


I (Jeannie) am still working at Queen's University as an online instructor for the course Fundamentals of Academic Essay Writing. This year our team undertook a full revision of our online course and spent many, many, MANY hours on this project.  Besides that, I've continued to work on my creative writing, with the help of my writing-group members Ann, Pam, Delina, and Deb; I also attend my book study group as well as 2 women's groups at Bethel Church.
 (photo by Ray Vos, July 2015)


We went for our usual trip to PEI in August, but it really didn't feel usual at all. With my mom having died in 2014, and our family home up for sale, we struggled to establish a "new normal" for our vacation. This was the first time in 30 years that I traveled to PEI and did not stay in the farmhouse. Instead we stayed at my aunt Elaine's house in Charlottetown, which we very much appreciated, and visited Dad daily at his apartment. It was so different, and the changes stressed Jonathan out quite a bit; he's used to walking into the farmhouse, finding the buckets of Lego, and sitting down to play with them for the next five hours. But a trip to Canoe Cove shore to swim with Daddy or play on the sandbars always calmed him down.  We went for drives and walks, went to the Gold Cup Parade (a must-do for our family), went to the Exhibition, visited with some relatives and friends. We went over a lot of old memories and made some new ones, too.

 (MacEachern farmhouse, winter - photo Alan MacEachern, date unknown)

 (MacEachern farm - photo by 
Alycia Adams-MacEachern, October 2014)

A highlight of our year was having my brother Errol, his wife Alycia, and their two lovable dogs, Abby and Nola, move to Kingston in June. Errol is posted here with the Canadian military and we are so happy to have them living just a few minutes away.

With two graduations at the end of this school year, 2016 promises to be a year of change for our family. And who knows what else the year will bring?  Whatever 2015 has brought your way and whatever the new year holds, we pray that you experience peace, joy, and hope.

Love from Jeannie, Richard, Allison and Jonathan




16 comments:

  1. I LOVE that quote. Thank you for sharing. A blessed new year to you all.

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    1. To you and Bruce and the boys too, Lori. Hope you come this way sometime soon. You and Caroline and I could meet in TO or something! Merry Christmas!

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  2. Blessings to you and your family for Christmas and the New Year, Jeannie. I hope these changes in 2016 are rich in the ways of God for all of you.

    P.S> I love that Haskins quote!

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    1. Thank you, Tim -- all the best to you and yours as well!

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  3. Merry Christmas Jeannie! Enjoyed reading your 2015 book list as well as your Christmas letter...going to add a couple of books to my must read list!

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    1. Thanks for commenting, Jamie! Merry Christmas to you & yours as well.

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  4. Merry Christmas from our house to yours, Jeannie. Thank you for your letter, and may 2016 bring many new adventures!

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    1. Thanks for stopping by, Judy. I hope you and your family and friends have a joyful and blessed Christmas and New Year.

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    2. Absolutely beautiful letter....thanks for sharing....loved the end quote!

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    3. Thanks for reading and commenting, Suzanne -- and have a Happy New Year!

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  5. Great to catch up and hear your news. Definitely sounds like a year of transition.

    I love that quote too. I have it on a sampler (hand stitched) that we believe was done by my Mom when she was a girl but it's one of those things about which I wished I had paid closer attention. The stitching indicates it that it was "from the King's speech, Christmas 1939". Mom would have been 13 at that time so it probably was hers.

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    1. That is amazing, Nancy -- what a treasure. Thanks for reading and commenting. It was so nice to see your Christmas e-letter, too. I love seeing pictures of your family.

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  6. Beautiful letter, Jeannie. You sound like one busy lady with your job, creative writing, Bible studies, writing group and family! Blessings to you in 2016. Thanks for sharing about your August vacation. I had missed that. (My August was crazy.)

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    1. Hi Betsy, thanks for stopping by and commenting. You didn't miss anything re my vacation -- I don't think I even posted about that. The Christmas letter is a great place to catch up on news the blog didn't happen to cover. :-) I hope your new year is shaping up well.

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  7. As usual Jeannie, I don't get to reading these things until the dates for Christmas and New Years have way past but you continiue to inspire me Jeannie with your gracious presence in book study, the way you and your family have embraced life and for your perspective and inspiration in your reading and quotes. Thank you for the gift of you.

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