2025 Christmas Letter

I sit at the dining room table listening to Christmas music and viewing beautiful snow-covered trees through our living room widows. Our Christmas tree is decorated, a vintage ceramic Christmas tree sparkles with colored lights, the nativity set is displayed at the entryway, and our front door is adorned with a festive wreath. It is the perfect Christmas zhuzh for inspiration.

For those of you who are "posting zero" on Facebook, the table below is a teaser. We created a top 10 list of our 2025 activities, but the activities and their descriptions are scrambled... for brain entertainment and exercise. Stretch those brain muscles!!! Otherwise, the answers are way below:

                           ACTIVITY                                                             DESCRIPTION

1	Jeff’s mom’s 90th birthday	A	In our neighbor’s backyard; one of the most amazing light shows ever
2	Niagara Falls	B	We took train trips to DC & Philly & visited Longwood Gardens. We had fun times together walking many, many steps
3	Healthful visits to Rehoboth Beach	C	Fun photo shoots in a variety of locations in Philly
4	Our June family visit in Tulsa, for @ a week	D	Lots of time to read, a few walks with Nathan, greeting at church, & fun eats of Taco Bueno
5	Diane’s April visit in Tulsa, for 2 weeks	E	A bucket list adventure that included a beautiful rainbow & many walking steps
6	Diane’s September visit in Tulsa, for 2 weeks	F	Our favorite stops include Aldi & the Asics Outlet
7	Celebrated two 70-year birthdays	G	Fun eats of Taco Bueno, many walks with Nathan, did a fun fall puzzle, greeting at church, & too busy to read
8	Lightning bug festival, zillions of them	H	Our accommodations included a lovely pool & we picked blueberries
9	Our good friend Ocki visited in March	I	Delicious food, a Bears win, watched Wicked 1 & 2, returning home we were stranded at ORD overnight after one of the earlier larger snowfalls in the Chicago area
10	Thanks-mas with the Fulks-9	J	It was a beautiful celebration, we are blessed. It was fun sharing an Airbnb with Jeff’s 2 siblings; we ate, laughed, danced & played games

Jeff still enjoys his work at American Bible Society, even more now that he is part-time. We continue to be avid reality TV show watchers, including Survivor and Amazing Race. Diane was blessed to be at Nathan's house a total of 5 weeks this year. 

Diane's first activity every morning is solving the NY Times Wordle, Connections, and Strands puzzles and then sharing her results with a good friend.

We wonder when and whether we will move back to the Midwest to be closer to family. IF we move back, where will we move to? It is complicated, but we are praying for wisdom.

A meaningful 2-hour Christmas special is Kevin Costner's: First Christmas, on Hulu and Disney+. Was Jesus born in a stable? When did the "3 Wisemen" visit Mary, Joseph, and Jesus? Who was Herod, really?

The answers to the brain teaser above are:  1-J, 2-E, 3-F, 4-H, 5-D, 6-G, 7-C,
 8-A, 9-B, 10-I.

Merry Christmas, Happy Hannukah, and a very blessed New Year 2026. 

Jeff & Diane